Rural hospitals closing and population and traffic increasing along Interstate 44 are putting more pressure on the hospital in Rolla to handle growing patient loads, especially for emergency services.
To meet those demands, Phelps Health has constructed an $8 million EMS base that will put its ambulance and helicopter crews in the same facility and allow for expansion in the coming years. The new building includes a helipad, training rooms, a dispatch center and bunk rooms for the EMS drivers and flight nurses who work 24-hour shifts.
“We’re 100 miles from St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia,” said Jason Shenefield, president and CEO of Phelps Health. “And there's really not a large regional facility in between any of those areas.”
A third of Missouri's population lives in rural areas, but only a fifth of the state's medical providers practices there. It's a growing disparity, according to a Missouri Rural Health Association report.
A dozen rural hospitals have closed in Missouri in the past decade, and another 19 are at risk of closing for financial reasons. The rural hospitals that remain will have to pick up the slack.
The Phelps Health expansion also addresses the region’s aging population, which Shenefield said will require more emergency and transportation services, especially to help keep older patients from having to travel for hours to reach a larger medical center.
Another reason for the new EMS base: crashes along Interstate 44. “As the interstate gets busier, we continue to see our call volume go up,” he said. Phelps Health had more than 8,200 calls for service in 2024, a 4% increase from 2023.
The new Phelps Health center, about half of which was paid for by the state using ARPA money, will open in June.
