Every rural EMS “struggles with staffing to begin with,” said Jim Aanstad, fire and ambulance chief of Iola, a village in Waupaca County that is home to three confirmed COVID-19 cases and one death. “You take four or five key people out of your roster, and you’re hurting big time.”

Volunteers run Iola’s ambulance service, which covers seven municipalities. They are paid, but very little. Even Aanstad has another job.

“If I don’t keep my people healthy, we’re not going to have anybody to respond to a call,” he said.

See entire Wisconsin Watch story here.