In remote Lake City, Colorado there is often only one paramedic or advanced EMS provider on call at a given time. The county's ambulance service is primarily staffed by volunteers. Retired paramedic Buffy Witt grew up in Lake City. She started as a volunteer EMT with the local EMS agency right out of high school. Then, she decided to make a career out of it. She worked as paramedic in Denver for over two decades before moving back to her hometown in 2020, to be the director of Hinsdale County Emergency Medical Services. She left that position in 2024. As part of our continuing coverage of EMS services on the Western Slope, KVNF's Laura Palmisano.
Palmisano: What made you want to become a paramedic?
Witt: I had been convinced that I should become a volunteer EMT for Hinsdale County EMS, and when I felt like there was a need to be filled and that I was decent at it and I enjoyed it, I thought, I'm going to go be a paramedic because there was only one paramedic here at the time, and I thought he could probably use some help. So I did go with the intention of coming back and helping this community.
Palmisano: And then when did you come back?
Witt: I moved back full-time in 2020 when I took the EMS director job and started to oversee the ambulance service here.
Palmisano: What was that experience like for you?
Witt: Well, I did take over January of 2020, and the agency had been in a transition period prior, and 2020 was the pandemic year. So it was challenging to say the least. We had a team of volunteers that needed to be bolstered in training and morale, and we were also dealing with the pandemic, COVID.
Palmisano: And how long did you run the EMS [in Hinsdale County]?
Witt: Until 2024, so four years as the EMS director. But prior to that, I had been volunteering here, done some training coordination since 1997. Like I never stopped giving to this community, even though I was in Denver.
Palmisano: And why did you decide to retire from being a paramedic?
Witt: I honestly had some challenging things that went down. Being the only paramedic in the system for a good amount of the time, I felt like I was always on call. And that was hard in and of itself. And then I had an incident in 2022 where I was the primary paramedic responder to an auto accident that involved my son. That was challenging. And then I responded to an accident of a childhood friend who was a fatality in an accident. And the kind of the nail was responding to my good girlfriend who had a cardiac event at her place of work. And it just felt like time for me to retire.
Palmisano: So you've seen a lot and experienced a lot through EMS. And, you understand the challenges of running and having an EMS system in a rural area. Given that scope, how do you think this community benefits by having the EMS? And how does it differ from EMS in a large city?
Witt: Oh, man, this community benefits from having an EMS system here locally. Because, you know, minutes count in a lot of cases. And we would have to wait for over an hour for an ambulance to arrive from a neighboring community. And so having first responders here really does make the difference between life and death. The difference is this system relies on volunteers. And it is difficult to volunteer your time to be on call 24-7 for an ambulance service when you're not getting paid to do that. And so you're taking time away from your family and holidays and all sorts of other things to give of yourself for the community. And while people are generally happy to do that, it is very taxing. And that is not the case in a bigger city where there's salaries to be paid and overtime to be made.
Palmisano: And how was it challenging being the sole paramedic in the county during your tenure?
Witt: Boy, yeah, challenging, definitely challenging. Being born and raised here, my link to the community is deep and wide. And being the only paramedic means you don't really have anybody else to rely on to help at that advanced level to help you make those decisions. That is not to say that I didn't have an incredible team of EMTs surrounding me. But it's a lot of pressure to make those decisions without somebody else to bounce ideas off of. And also to be at least an hour away from definitive care. And then you add the layer on top of that, which is the people that you respond to, there's a good chance that you will know them and love
them, or know someone who knows them and loves them. It takes an emotional toll, for sure. And then there's the pressure of knowing that if you are not on call, there is not a paramedic that is going to be available for the service. So I made myself available to run calls as much as possible, including 24-7, mostly 365, like putting off vacations and not traveling because I knew that the community needed coverage. And that was a lot of pressure. And that was part of the reason why I decided to retire when I did.
