Year: 2022

Marnie Werner, VP Research Whitney Oachs, Research Associate Kelly Asche, Research Associate Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there has still been little research on the impact of the coronavirus on rural communities or the accompanying public health and economic measures taken to control its spread. In Minnesota, like the rest of the nation, the ...

Whitney Oachs, Research Associate                     Last year, CRPD collaborated with students at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs to publish “Building community, embracing difference: Immigrants, refugees, and local government outreach in rural Minnesota.” While this study established the need for equity and inclusion initiatives among rapidly diversifying meatpacking towns, it only brushed ...

EXCERPT: “Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Thursday made a $1.8 million ask of state lawmakers that he said would help his office bring on additional prosecutors and yield more criminal convictions in greater Minnesota. Ellison, a first-term Democrat, said he has proposed additional funding for his office’s criminal division three years in a row with ...

EXCERPT: “By day, Martin Healey teaches science classes at Waseca High School. At home, his pager stays on for 12-hour stretches two nights each week and on occasional weekends, alerting him to calls for the Wells Community Ambulance Service, with which the 48-year-old has served over the last dozen years. Such is the life of an EMT ...

By Marnie Werner, VP Research, & Kelly Asche, Research Associate Access to emergency medical services in Rural Minnesota is the topic of our latest report. In it, we analyzed data collected by the Minnesota Department of Health in their 2016 survey of EMS agencies around the state. We wanted to see how delivering EMS services ...

Ambulance services save lives every day, and rural communities deserve as much access to emergency medical services as anyone else. Our latest report asks the question: What are the next steps we should take to ensure a strong rural EMS in the future? On Wednesday, April 20 from 2:30-4:00pm we presented the findings in our ...

EXCERPT: “Work to expand another 12 miles of U.S. Highway 14 to four lanes in southern Minnesota is underway. It’s the last leg in a decades-long effort to create a four-lane transportation corridor between Rochester and New Ulm. Local, state and federal officials gathered in Courtland, Minn., on Tuesday morning for a ceremonial groundbreaking. In addition to ...

April 2022 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate For a printable version of this report, click here. Ambulance services save lives every day, but a report released by the Office of the Legislative Auditor in February of 2022 raises serious concerns about the way ambulance services in Minnesota are regulated, their future viability, and the operations ...

EXCERPT: “Results from a Minnesota Department of Health survey confirm health care worker burnout and show workforce shortage trends are affecting a wide range of health care professionals. The report, Minnesota’s Health Care Workforce: Pandemic-Provoked Workforce Exits, Burnout, and Shortages (PDF), is the first report of its kind covering the effects of the pandemic on ...