It wasn't until recently, though, that Emergency Medical Services became an essential service in Utah the way law enforcement and fire are.Bushman, who is a Piute County Commissioner, was part of the effort to make EMS an essential state service.
The Utah Legislature also decided this past session to move the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services from the Department of Health to the Department of Public Safety. "We have relied on volunteers for years and years and years. In the last ten years, that has dwindled immensely," he said. Last year, the Utah State Legislature passed a bill allowing for EMS volunteers in rural areas to becomeIt is one way to try to get and keep volunteers for what is now an essential state service."I think the one thing the Department of Public Safety really wants to do is, they want to challenge everything EMS. Challenge the process, challenge how we do business in the state of Utah, and how we provide emergency medical services across the state," said Bushman.