An air ambulance lands as rural EMS volunteers and students train at the site of a simulated car wreck on April 12, 2025. The training covers how to create a safe helicopter landing zone and stay in contact with the flight crew on board.
Jennifer Baires / OPB
On New Year’s Day in 2023, Erik Kerr met up with a snowmobiling group near Crescent in south-central Oregon, intending to ride through the forest to the rim of Crater Lake.
But he never made it that day.
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“I hit the tree dead between the skis,” Kerr said recently. “My torso went forward. My head missed the tree somehow. I could have easily broken my neck.”
Thrown off the snowmobile, Kerr landed in a snow drift, off trail and out of sight. He lay in the snow watching the other riders pass by unaware.
“My leg was snapped,” Kerr said. “I’m just freaking out. I’m like, ‘Great. Nobody’s going to see me.’”
But Kerr was luckier than most who find themselves injured in Oregon’s backcountry. Riding behind the group happened to be James Wilson, an EMT and the fire chief of Crescent. Wilson sprang into action.
“I came across him, did a quick patient assessment, saw that there was definitely a potential fracture going on there and a lot of pain,” he said.
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First responders load Erik Kerr into an ambulance after a snowmobiling crash on Jan. 1, 2023.
Courtesy of Erik Kerr / Courtesy of Erik Kerr
Even with the good fortune of being found right away, Kerr waited over four hours to make it to a hospital bed in Bend. Thick fog in the region meant going by helicopter wasn’t an option.
Wilson said accidents like Kerr’s are common in his agency’s coverage area, and the calls for help are increasing.
From Crescent in Klamath County, Wilson’s EMS crew covers over 1,000 square miles. During busy holiday weekends, the population can surge to over 10,000 people.
“We’ve gone from an agency that was very small and with under 300 calls a year, five or six years ago, to where this year we’re on track to breaking 800 calls for service,” Wilson said.
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Roughly 70% of Oregon’s ground ambulance service areas are in rural communities, according to the state’s Office of Rural Health.
Without a state-mandated tax base to fund local EMS, many rural agencies struggle to staff and maintain ground services, relying frequently on costly air resources and unpaid volunteers.
The level of medical care a volunteer EMS provider can offer varies greatly. Oftentimes they’re certified as EMTs and are only trained to provide basic care. Unlike paramedics, they can’t start an IV line, administer medication or intubate a patient. The years of schooling required to be a paramedic are demanding, and the associated costs are steep — around $20,000.
Crescent Fire volunteer Chris Jones (far right) washes an ambulance on May 30, 2025. Jones retired last year after 25 years as a firefighter and paramedic in La Pine. He says calls for help have increased past what rural agencies can handle.
Jennifer Baires / OPB
Hiring and retaining professional medics is another hurdle, Wilson said. Rural agencies typically offer smaller salaries than their urban counterparts. It’s a problem that Wilson said he faces in Crescent, and one that Oregon Office of Rural Health Director Robert Duehmig said is being felt statewide as older medics age out of the job.
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“The population of existing EMTs is starting to retire out,” Duehmig said. “And some of the EMTs that are working are older, and that becomes a bigger danger to them trying to lift people and respond to those kinds of calls, particularly in bad weather.”
Duehmig said there are grants available to help support training for staff and volunteers at rural agencies. His office has a staff member dedicated to helping agencies find ways to increase their workforce and connect to resources. A bill under consideration in the Oregon Legislature now would raise the annual tax credit available to rural medical volunteers from $250 to $1,000.
Chris Jones volunteers for Crescent Fire, and understands firsthand the need for well-trained help. He spent 25 years as a professional paramedic before retiring in 2023.
“Rural areas need extra people,” Jones said. “I figured I have some extra time available, might as well volunteer.”
Responding to emergencies in isolated areas takes dedication, with or without a paycheck, he added.
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“It’s a love for the job, a love for the rural community,” he said.
His son, Cruz Jones, also volunteers with Crescent Fire as a resident volunteer student. He’s working toward his paramedic certifications at Central Oregon Community College. By using a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant and its own funds, Crescent Fire is paying for his education. He even lives at the station and volunteers extra time to fill shifts.
The student-resident program is one way Crescent has been able to adequately staff its ambulances, Wilson said. Depending on the day and location, it can take up to four hours for a ground ambulance to arrive after a 911 call in rural Oregon.
Air ambulance operators said they are increasingly getting calls to transport patients from rural areas.
Paul Pearlmutter, a flight respiratory therapist with AirLink, prepares the air ambulance in Bend on May 30, 2025.
Jennifer Baires / OPB
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Paul Pearlmutter is a flight respiratory therapist at AirLink Critical Care Transport, a medical flight company based in Bend. He’s flown with the private company for the last decade and said aside from inter-hospital transfers, the majority of its calls to scenes are in outlying areas. Pearlmutter said he’s noticed an increase in calls for patients who aren’t critically sick or injured.
“Sometimes they’re less critical but still need to get to Bend,” Pearlmutter said. “We will go fly just to help alleviate the stress on the [ground] EMS in that system.”
A helicopter ride can range widely from a few thousand dollars to over a hundred thousand dollars, according to AirLink representative Marta Jaroch.
One mother’s seven-minute helicopter ride to transport her premature baby between hospitals racked up $40,000 in bills, Jaroch said.
EMS leaders said they would like to avoid using costly air resources for less-critical patients. To help, some rural agencies east of the Cascades are working together to build up the volunteer base of trained first responders. Some of them, like North Lake County EMS in Christmas Valley, are entirely owned and operated by volunteers.
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The view from an AirLink air ambulance as it flies near the company’s base in Bend on May 30, 2025.
Jennifer Baires / OPB
In April, sagebrush and juniper trees dotted the landscape around a turnout area on Highway 31 near Fort Rock Junction in Lake County. Two cars were parked with their front bumpers inches apart.Inside the vehicles, actors posed as if they’d just been in a wreck. A woman was draped over the steering wheel, another was lying against the passenger door frame and a child in the back was slumped over in a booster seat.
North Lake County EMS and AirLink set up this scene as part of a training for over a half a dozen rural EMS agencies across three counties. The actors were there to help first responders prepare for a mass-casualty event, said AirLink’s Jaroch.
“The EMTs are going to ask them questions and they’re going to say, ‘Well, I’m feeling nauseated. My neck hurts, my head hurts, or I’m having severe abdominal pain,’” she said.
Katie Lossing, an EMT student at Klamath Community College, leaned into the car window.
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Erik Kerr successfully completes the trip to the rim of Crater Lake on May 10, 2025.
Courtesy of Erik Kerr / Courtesy of Erik Kerr
“Hey sweetheart, you with us?” Lossing asked the driver
“Pressure. My head hurts,” the woman replied.
After assessing the victims, the group convened to determine which patients were critical and required air transport.
It’s a scenario that volunteers need to be familiar with when working in rural areas, Jaroch said.
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And their efforts are appreciated, especially by people like Erik Kerr — the snowmobiler who broke his leg two years ago.
He’s healed up now, and recently returned to the backcountry to finish his ride to Crater Lake.
Jennifer Baires is a freelance journalist based in Bend. She can be reached at jbaires@opb.org.
Editor’s note: OPB is a nonprofit, statewide news organization with a mission to tell stories for communities in all parts of Oregon and Southwest Washington. As part of that goal, we work with partner news organizations and freelancers to identify stories like this that might otherwise go untold. If you have an idea for a story, live in an area outside Portland and want to work with us, send your freelance pitches to ecureton@opb.org.
The University of Oregon’s Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a $1.55 billion operating budget for the next fiscal year.
But they asked university leadership to return with an amended proposal by Dec. 15, when more details about future budget cuts will be known.
FILE — The Board of Trustees recently approved next year’s budget for the University of Oregon. The vote comes several weeks after the school’s president announced that he wants the university to reduce its annual budget as revenues and out-of-state enrollment decline.
Brian Bull / KLCC
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The vote comes several weeks after University of Oregon President Karl Scholz announced that he wants the school to reduce its annual budget by around $65 million.
At a trustees meeting Monday, Scholz said the estimated budget shortfall for next year is just around $23 million. But he said out-of-state enrollment is below historical norms for the second year in a row, and it’s unlikely to bounce back.
“One year can be an aberration. Two years is a pattern,” said Scholz. “And I believe we have to treat it as a new reality.”
Scholz said in May that discussions about the budget would happen over a six-month period. He said no final decisions about cuts would be made over this summer.
On Monday, UO Senate President Dyana Mason told trustees that the Senate had approved a new process to allow for community feedback in the cost-cutting process.
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Mason said the provost will work with the deans on budget proposals, finding “clear rationale” for why programs are considered for elimination.
The provost would then bring those proposals to the Senate Committee for Academic Modifications—which includes staff, faculty and students—for feedback.
Once the plans are nearly finalized, the Senate could then hold a period for public comment.
Mason told trustees that a six-month timeline is better than the three months that frustrated some staff last year, but she recommended taking however much time is necessary.
“The worst situation would be rushing forward to make decisions without appropriate evidence, data, feedback from the people that are most in the know about the impact on our students,” said Mason.
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UO’s Board of Trustees Chair Steve Holwerda said that every week that university delays the decisions could cost them millions of dollars.
Nathan Wilk is a reporter with the KLCC newsroom.This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
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Oregon’s juvenile justice system has been reshaped in recent years by a sweeping reform law that changed how the state handles minors accused of serious crimes.
Senate Bill 1008, which took effect in 2020, ended automatic transfers of juveniles into adult court and eliminated life without parole sentences for juveniles. The law also created “second-look” hearings and established parole eligibility after 15 years for certain offenders who committed crimes before turning 18.
To help explain the law and its impact, KVAL’s Frannie Pedersen put together a timeline video tracing the history of Senate Bill 1008, from the passage of Measure 11 in 1994 to the reforms that later reshaped Oregon’s juvenile justice system.
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The video breaks down how the law changed, why lawmakers pushed for reform, and how SB 1008 continues to influence Oregon’s justice system today. Viewers can watch the full video for a detailed timeline and explanation of the changes.
PORTLAND, Ore. — A New Jersey man was sentenced to federal prison last Friday for conspiring to distribute fentanyl, announced U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon.
Mark T. Eager, 34, was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release.
“This defendant showed a blatant disregard for human life by trafficking fentanyl across the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Bradford. “My office will continue to pursue those who profit from poisoning our communities, and we will use every available resource and partnership to combat fentanyl trafficking and keep Oregonians safe.”
“This investigation brought together law enforcement agencies from across the nation,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle acting Special Agent in Charge April Miller. “Homeland Security Investigations special agents from Portland, Newark, and Houston contributed to the case, along with the Portland Police Bureau and HIDTA HIT officers, who were instrumental in identifying Eager. His 11-year sentence sends a clear message: no matter where you are in the country or the world, if you attempt to sell narcotics online to Americans, we will find you.”
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“Fentanyl trafficking poses a grave threat to communities across the United States, and Homeland Security Investigations is committed to working with our partners to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks responsible,” said HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Lucia Cabral-DeArmas. “This case demonstrates the power of interagency collaboration under the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, leveraging resources from across the country to hold traffickers accountable and protect the American people. We will continue to pursue those who endanger lives through the distribution of dangerous synthetic opioids, and we remain steadfast in our mission to safeguard our communities from the violence and instability caused by transnational criminal organizations.”
“By following this offender’s digital trail, Homeland Security Investigations and our law enforcement partners nationwide executed federal search warrants, dismantled an active dark web fentanyl packaging operation and recovered deadly amounts of fentanyl, thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency, and a trove of electronic devices and packaging materials,” said HSI Newark Acting Special Agent in Charge Spiros Karabinas. “This case is a powerful example of how coordinated, data-driven investigations can disrupt dangerous networks and help protect our communities from lethal synthetic opioids.”
According to court documents, from November 2023 through June 2024, Eager and his co-conspirator sold fentanyl on the Dark Net and Telegram. Eager operated as the vendor WRSEH10 and marketed the fentanyl as “China White Synthetic Heroin.”
In June 2024, HSI agents executed search warrants on two residences associated with Eager in Kearny, New Jersey, and seized over 360 grams of powdered fentanyl, counterfeit M30 pills, drug ledgers, cellular phones, two computers, and drug packaging consistent with three deliveries that were sent to Oregon.
On September 4, 2024, a federal grand jury in Portland returned a four-count indictment charging Eager with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and distribution of fentanyl.
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On February 4, 2026, Eager pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl.
HSI Portland and HSI Houston investigated this case with assistance from HSI Newark, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Interdiction Task Force (HIT). Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Kerin prosecuted the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey assisted the U.S. Attorney’s in Oregon in obtaining the search warrants that were executed in Kearny.
