On a cold February day, a call for service came into the Northern Light Medical Transport crew at CA Dean Hospital. An ambulance was toned out to Chesuncook Village, a two-and-a-half-hour drive into the North Maine Woods, for a patient having a stroke. After driving over rough, unpaved roads, the crew still had to travel 15 miles by snowmobile to get to the patient. These are the challenges that one of Maine’s most rural EMS services faces.
The EMS service at CA Dean Hospital covers an area as large as Rhode Island, including some of the most remote parts of Maine. In the last year alone the EMS team responded to 911 calls by ambulance, boat, jet ski, ATV, helicopter, float plane, and snowmobile, sometimes in partnership with other agencies like the local fire department and Maine Warden Service. Occasionally they respond to injuries on the Appalachian Trail, which can require 12 or more hours of hiking to reach people in need and carry them to safety. The team is small, resourceful, and committed to serving the community. In 2024, the team responded to 551 requests for service and traveled approximately 40,000 miles for 911 calls and transfers.
Reimbursement helps cover the cost of staff, equipment, and maintenance for one ambulance, but in this remote region, one ambulance just isn’t enough. A call for service deep in the woods or a patient transfer to the closest major medical center in Bangor can take an ambulance and EMS crew out of town for hours. CA Dean must fund a second ambulance to ensure coverage in the region at all times. Savings from the 340B program help make it possible.
CA Dean’s service faces the same challenges that EMS providers statewide experience, including staffing shortages, increasing costs, low reimbursement. With responsibility for covering such a large geographic footprint, the EMS service overcomes barriers that few other EMS providers experience. Despite these difficulties, the team’s commitment to serving the region is unending because they know that every time an ambulance is toned out, they could save a life.