Alison Bakken took the swab from the yellow-gowned lab worker, expertly rolled it around each nostril and handed it back. Within 15 minutes, a reassuring bright green box lit up her mobile phone with word that her latest COVID-19 test was negative. Bakken has been getting tested every Wednesday since October, when her employer, Abbott Labs, began mandating onsite COVID-19 screening for all its .
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Rural hospital closures strain community ambulance services
Rural hospital closures force patients in affected communities to travel longer distances for specialized or emergency care. A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health shows that such closures place similar strain on emergency medical service (EMS) providers trying to get patients to the hospital or another facility as quickly as possible.
EMS services in rural areas are provided by municipal agencies – such as police, firefighting and community volunteer organizations – or private companies that bid to offer transportation for a contracted period of time.
To learn more, Nikpay and her research team searched publically available data for the locations of recent rural hospital closures across the U.S occurring in 2012-2018 and the names of EMS providers in those counties. The researchers then scoured Medicare payment data for EMS trip charges to patients in those areas during that t
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The steep rise in rural hospital closures over the past decade is hurting many emergency medical service providers, worrying public experts tracking response times.
The average length of ambulance trips increased by 22% among municipally-run, EMS agencies and 10% among privately-owned providers between 2012 and 2018 in locations where a recent rural hospital closure took place, according to a new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
The actual number of trips those providers made did not change during the study period. But the analysis found rural EMS providers decreased their number of non-emergency and inter-facility transfer trips by 31%. Lead study author Sayeh Nikpay, associate professor in the division of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said the drop in planned trips made it harder for EMS providers to dispatch ambulances in a way that ensured commun
In their own words: Minnesotans on how George Floyd s life and death impacted them startribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from startribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
May 20, 2021 Jon Oliver
Along with summer comes the tick season in Minnesota. Many ticks can carry bacteria, viruses and parasites that can harm humans, including Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, in 2018, there were 950 confirmed Lyme disease cases and 496 confirmed or probable cases of anaplasmosis in Minnesota.
Jon Oliver with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health answers questions about the outlook for this year’s tick season in Minnesota, types of ticks and where they are most prevalent, and what people should do to avoid ticks and if they find one on themselves.