Nancy Kern at Columbia-Greene Media reports that the Greene County Legislature has authorized $9,000 to fund ten emergency medical technicians recruits to train with the EMS Council at a cost of $900 per individual training. The resolution authorizing the funding said that Greene County has a shortage of paramedics, and that many leaving the field could result in “an increase in deaths among [Greene County] citizens.” Steven Near, chief of operations for Greene County Paramedics, said, “You have holes in schedules with administrators having to fill open slots to provide ambulances on the road.... A lot of agencies normally had two or three ambulances pre-pandemic, but they’re struggling to put one or two now. The agency I used to work for had five ambulances. Now they’re struggling to get three. It’s difficult to hang on to the EMTs you have.” The shortage of emergency first responders is national, and since training takes six months, it is not a problem that can be quickly fixed. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.