Commitment to Lakes Region EMS

Posted on November 6, 2017

A message from Frandsen Bank & Trust’s founder:

In seeking an opportunity for service that would potentially benefit every person in our community, my family and I have made a substantial, ongoing commitment to Lakes Region EMS. It is one of the most important charitable endeavors of my career, and I truly believe it has the potential to save people’s lives.

Lakes Region EMS is the nonprofit life-support and ambulance service that serves a large portion of east-central Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. With over 70 people on staff, they serve over 1,000 square miles with 10 ambulances from bases in Chisago City, North Branch, and Rush City, Minnesota, and Milltown and St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

My involvement with Lakes Region EMS began two years ago when I donated a building at the Rush City Regional Airport. This donation allowed Lakes Region EMS to keep a medical helicopter dedicated to our area year-round for the first time — saving critical minutes when patients need to be airlifted. At the same time we remodeled and outfitted the building to become the new home base for the ambulance and crew that were formerly housed in a pole building in Rush City. Since then we have provided remodeling, redecorating, and all new furnishings for the other four ambulance stations.

As I became more familiar with the operation and the vital services that Lakes Region EMS provides to a large population, I began to see additional needs and opportunities that could benefit thousands of people. Starting last year, we provided one new fully equipped ambulance, as well as retrofitting the remaining nine ambulances with hydraulic gurneys, which are of great benefit to not only the patients but the first responders as well. Numerous other donations of equipment have been made and more are in the works.

My goal is to create a life-saving legacy that will be a continuing bridge between the emergency health-care needs of people and the medical services they need to quickly receive. My family is enthusiastically supporting this effort and will continue it long after I am gone.

--Dennis Frandsen