(ABC 6 News) – About 1500 workers left the EMS profession in 2023, according to the state of Minnesota, and the issue of diminishing staff isn’t going away anytime soon.

And with it being the end of National EMS Week, several EMS teams from Austin to Mason City talked about some of their biggest challenges.

When it came to Albert Lea, maintenance issues was one of the first things they brought up.

“You never know when something is going to break down, a battery goes bad, that tool is out. That’s probably the hardest thing,” said Lieutenant Jed Lokken of the Albert Lea Fire and Rescue Team.

In Austin, the city fire department said construction in the city is seriously hampering their ability to respond quickly to emergencies.

“We’re making due with what we have. It’s a situation that needs to get done. We need infrastructure repairs, and that’s just the way it is,” said Hans Gilbert, an engineer at the Austin Fire Department.

He urged the public in Spam Town specifically, that if a response is taking awhile, it’s simply because they are getting so many calls.

“We’re not putting things off; we’re not taking our time getting to you. Sometimes there’s just not enough people to be able to get to you and will get to you as soon as we can,” Gilbert said.

And it’s not just Minnesota, as teams in Mason City say they are seeing the same issues.

“Being down to about two rigs per shift has been hard. With the influx of 911’s throughout the day, we’ve had to manage our time a little bit more wisely on 911’s,” said Logan McGillivray, firefighter/paramedic at the Mason City Fire Department.

But despite all the struggles, each station says they are doing what they can to continue to support their communities.

“We’re constantly training, constantly trying to improve. We have guys that are always looking at what is the new standard for EMS and how we can constantly be improving for our community, and how we can take that next step forward,” McGillivray said.

All the stations did say that a lot that goes into it is collaboration. Austin and Albert Lea rely on Mayo Clinic to help with response times, but they say that helping more rural volunteer EMS stations is an important part of their job as well.