DRUMMOND ISLAND — Northern Emergency Medical Services Authority has assumed responsibility for emergency medical services in several townships and villages in the eastern Upper Peninsula, shifting areas that previously relied on volunteer departments to full-time, 24/7 first responder coverage.
The plan for around-the-clock coverage started in 2022. The authority made the change official Sunday and held an open house on Drummond Island.
In addition to Drummond Township, Northern Emergency Medical Services Authority will serve Bruce, Detour, Kinross, Marquette, Pickford, Raber and Rudyard townships, as well as Neebish Island.
Many of the townships previously relied on response from volunteer emergency medical services departments, but will now receive quicker response times from Northern Emergency Medical Services Authority’s first responders.
The authority has 20 paramedics, eight advanced emergency medical technicians and 27 emergency medical technicians on staff.
“It seems like it was such a long time far away, but it’s only been three years. It’s gone by fast,” Bryan Huntley, the authority’s director, said. “This is the third or fourth time that a group has come together and try to make this happen and it finally stuck this time.”
Last year, Kinross Emergency Medical Services was dispatched to more than 2,000 calls. Huntley said he expected even more calls with the expansion into Northern Emergency Medical Services Authority.