By Hilary Matheson
Daily Inter Lake
FLATHEAD COUNTY, Mont. 鈥� Emergency medical services are not designated as essential, unlike firefighters or police, which means Montana isn鈥檛 required to fund them.
A resolution that started as a Flathead High School student鈥檚 class project may change that. The resolution calls for a statewide study of emergency medical services to assess capabilities, needs, future demand and funding mechanisms.
Flathead senior Kaylee Hampton, 17, helped draft the resolution as a political engagement project for her International Baccalaureate Global Politics class. The class is taught by Roy Antley.
鈥淚t started with just the proposal sheet from my global politics class, where I said I wanted to find ways to make funding more equitable in fire departments. From there, we devised a plan, figuring out who I needed to get a hold of, and sort of the route I wanted to go,鈥� Hampton said.
She contacted Republican Sen. John Fuller of Kalispell, who sponsored the joint resolution, for guidance. Fuller is a former Flathead High School teacher.
鈥淗e worked with me and told me that I could help draft a resolution for it. So, I drafted it myself. I got the go-ahead from my teacher, and from him [Fuller] and then we sent it off to the Senate Committee on Health,鈥� she said.
Once she sent the draft off, a wave of relief washed over the ambitious senior who thanks to a 鈥渧ery concise schedule鈥� and 鈥渞eally great family and friends鈥� was able to carve out time to write drafts of the draft while going to school and spending nearly every other weekend competing in extracurriculars in addition to completing scholarship applications.
The study will look at the implications of recognizing emergency medical services as a statewide essential service and look at anticipated future demands for services over the next five years, according to the resolution.
While many of her friends pursued ideas related to Ukraine, Hampton opted to do the project because it hit close to home.
With a father working as a firefighter and paramedic for the Bigfork Fire Department and the Lakeside Quick Response Unit, Hampton learned firsthand the critical role EMS provides to Montana鈥檚 rural communities and cities.
鈥淚 think often we think of fire departments as just fire. When I realized that literally about 85% of his job is EMS-related ... that鈥檚 what tells me it鈥檚 so important,鈥� Hampton said.
Also at her disposal was an understanding of the Legislative process. Hampton has three years of experience competing in Legislative Debate under coach Kelli Rosenquist on Flathead鈥檚 speech and debate team.
鈥淚鈥檝e had the training to write resolutions and do mock legislation, and so competing in that gave me a really good background on what鈥檚 going on,鈥� she said.
As with preparing for a productive debate, Hampton approached the project with meticulousness, research, resolve, confidence and patience 鈥� following the resolution and providing testimony as it made its way through the Legislature from November 2024, when a draft was assigned, to being signed by the Speaker of the House and Senate President at the beginning of May.
Addressing the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety committee at the state Capitol March 19 was both scary and exhilarating, she said.
鈥淚鈥檝e been wanting to do this since I started legislative debate when I was a sophomore. It wasn鈥檛 this exact resolution, but I was like, I just got to get a bill passed. I really want to do it,鈥� she said.
After researching the issue and interviewing local fire department chiefs in Bigfork, South Kalispell and Smith Valley, where her father started out as a volunteer, she learned that not having the 鈥渆ssential鈥� designation is a nationwide concern. Primarily relying on money from local governments means that underfunded communities may exacerbate health disparities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
鈥淎 lot of the experiences I鈥檓 seeing within my valley show the strains are just getting pretty extreme. They鈥檒l get funding for fire, but they鈥檙e not getting near enough for what 85% of their job really is,鈥� she said.
Smith Valley Fire Chief Amy Beick said the department is proud of Hampton鈥檚 efforts to resurrect a decades-old issue.
鈥淪he鈥檚 just very talented and ambitious,鈥� Beick said.
鈥淎s far as the study, we are very excited to see a study done on EMS services at the state level. We are very confident they will find sufficient evidence to make EMS a necessary service, and that鈥檚 long overdue,鈥� she said.
Beick said her department currently funds EMS through ambulance billing revenue. Each time an individual is transported by ambulance, Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance is billed, but it doesn鈥檛 always make ends meet. Last year, the department had 730 calls for service, and of that, 569 were EMS-related.
鈥淪eventy-eight percent of our call volume is medical,鈥� Beick said, noting that the fire department is not alone in the high volume of medical calls. 鈥淎nd so, nine years ago, our board decided we can鈥檛 do that to our mutual aid [fire departments]. So, they went and purchased a used ambulance, and they figured out how to staff it and equip it.鈥�
Prior to buying the ambulance, Smith Valley relied on Kalispell, which means traveling a farther distance and a longer response time. As the population continues to grow, so does the call volume, and Smith Valley made the switch to contracting with a private ambulance company.
鈥淏ut there鈥檚 no money in EMS. There鈥檚 no funding for EMS, so they couldn鈥檛 afford to keep their doors open and went out of business. And so that left a hole for us,鈥� Beick said. 鈥淲ho鈥檚 going to transport? Do we just rely on mutual aid for all of our EMS calls, which isn鈥檛 fair.鈥�
The study is set to conclude in September 2026, with results reported to the 70th Legislature.
Reflecting on the broader impact of her project and the importance of youth involvement in the legislative process, Hampton encourages her peers to 鈥渢ake the leap鈥� by getting involved.
鈥淛ust remember that you have friends around you, you have teachers around you who are willing to support you,鈥� she said, drawing from her own experience.
She said it鈥檚 an empowering experience to realize constituents can effect change.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been like, OK, well, I can be upset about it, or I can make the change. I think that it鈥檚 really empowering to be like, OK, yeah, this is a democracy. I have the complete power to get a hold of my representative and to see if I can do something and try to make that change,鈥�
She said the experience was a big deal that not only demonstrated her capabilities but also speaks to the support and guidance of her mentors, coaches and teachers.
鈥淕etting to show my mentees that it鈥檚 possible for teenagers to do things like this, I hope, is empowering to them too,鈥� she said.
漏 2025 the Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, Mont.).
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