Cantwell's volunteer EMS model is straining, Denali Borough officials say

The volunteer model that has covered emergency medical calls in Cantwell for about two decades may not hold much longer, Denali Borough officials say — though no decision has been made about paying for something different.

The borough's mayor told the Assembly on Sept. 9 that he'd sat in on a Cantwell Fire and EMS meeting alongside the McKinley and Tri-Valley chiefs. The department is struggling to recruit and keep volunteers, a problem rural departments face across the country, while the calls keep coming along a long, thinly covered stretch of the Parks Highway.

Assembly member Stanfield, who was also there, called it "a pretty tough meeting, but hopefully going forward we can collaborate and try and find a solution."

One option already on the table is an expansion of something the borough has tried before. Presiding Officer Jared Zimmerman pointed to the Tri-Valley summer medic program — discussed as early as 2021 and the subject of a roughly $230,000 grant request in 2022 — as "a largely successful model" and "a great place to start." The appeal is proximity: "Better they're 20, 30 miles away than 120," he said.

Zimmerman said the borough's 5 percent alcohol and marijuana tax, along with an increase in the bed tax, could help pay for year-round EMS coverage, calling it "high on that list" of priorities. He said the borough's 9 percent cap on nonprofit funding would need more thought before that could work.