Rural Emergency Medical Responders: Their Biggest Stressors
Sampling/Recruiting Strategy
Looking specifically at rural and remote communities, I took a trip to Hocking County, Ohio and met with EMS responders at 2 of the 3 stations within the county. The selection of EMS responders was based on the fact that emergencies would reveal the most prevalent health issues in the community, which these responders would have first hand experience dealing with. The selection of Hocking County was based on its geographically rural terrain which includes unpaved roads, caves, and farms, as well as its total population across 424 square miles being 27, 564. The three stations have wide terrain to cover, and a population of 13.2% in poverty (United States Census Bureau).
This survey was directly sent to 4 EMS responders, 2 of which were from Laurelville EMS, the other 2 from Logan. With an estimated total EMS staff of 44, this survey received 7 responses. A Laurelville EMS responder I personally spoke to and contacted shared the survey with their official Hocking County EMS group chat, leading to data being collected from at least 2 EMS responders from each of the stations: 2 from Laurelville, 3 from Logan, and 2 from Carbon Hill.
The data was characterized by frequently mentioned factors and common connective themes to represent the factors as part of a system, not isolated variables.
Survey Questions
Link to official survey
The goal of this survey was to discover what factors challenged the EMS responders the most when working in rural conditions. Questions ranged from main populations served, tools/devices/equipment, procedures, and operational factors. These were aimed to uncover underlying issues or stressors within the existing the EMS response.
Results
Display of results on Qualtrics was not very clear, leading me to reinput responses on Google sheets: Link to responses. I analyzed the repetition of words or themes first by question, and then combining those results to obtain overall repetition numbers of each theme across the 7 respondents.
Conclusion
The main takeaways center on patient extraction and access to specialists, particularly trauma and cardiac specialists, as well as facilities equipped to perform advanced procedures. Overall, the findings suggest that rural communities face significant challenges related to distance and limited access to specialized and appropriate care.
References:
United States Census Bureau > Communications Directorate - Center for New Media and Promotion. (2025). QuickFacts: Hocking County, Ohio. United States Census Bureau. Census Bureau QuickFacts. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hockingcountyohio/pst045225
