By Jill Fennema –

Pictured: The Leota Rescue Squad in 1989. Pictured are (back l to r) (L-R) Rod De Boer, Hank Van Dyke, Brian Tschetter, Mike Schuller, Josephine Gunnink, Marlys Schuller, Wayne Landhuis, Karla Hofkamp, Sandi Gunnink, Dawn Esselink, Keith Esselink.

Last August, the Leota Rescue Squad put out a call to people in the Leota vicinity, asking for more volunteers for their organization. Their squad was down to three people and two of those were planning to retire. 

Wayne Landhuis and Mike Schuller have now retired from the Leota Rescue Squad. Thankfully, four individuals have volunteered to become Emergency Medical Responders (EMR) to help fill their shoes. 

In 1970, President Lyndon Johnson’s Committee on Highway Traffic Safety recommended the creation of a national certification agency to establish uniform standards for training and examination of personnel active in the delivery of emergency ambulance service. That resulted in the creation of the National Registry, which is the organization responsible for certifying the four levels of emergency service providers: EMRs, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), Advanced-EMTs, and Paramedics. Since that time, the National Registry has certified nearly two million Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers.  Today, over 400,000 individuals are currently certified as an EMS provider.

Wayne Landhuis was one of the original members of the Leota Rescue Squad when it was formed in 1979. The other three men who were on the crew with him were Arnie Gunnink, Ron Abbink, and John Gunnink.  After a year as an EMR, Wayne became an EMT.  In 1985, he earned his license to teach EMS. In 1986 he started teaching for Jackson (now Minnesota West) and in 1998 he started teaching for SW EMS and still teaches today. 

As an EMS trainer, Wayne teaches training classes all over the southwest part of the state – from Ortonville to Hutchinson, and even as far as New Richland. Wayne has taught EMS classes to all the ambulance services in the four county area, including Edgerton and Chandler. In addition to his work as an EMS instructor, Wayne worked with the Worthington Ambulance from 1985 to 2008. 

Wayne and his wife, JoAnne, have three children. Their son Jeremy is a paramedic with Sanford AirMed.  

One of Wayne’s most memorable experiences as an EMT was when he received a call that his son, Jake, had his foot caught in a grain conveyor at Chandler Feed Company. He rushed to the scene and was able to help rescue his son. 

Mike Schuller has served on the Leota Rescue Squad for nearly as long as Wayne. In 1980, Ron Abbink asked him to join the squad. Mike and his wife Marlys lived northeast of Leota and the other volunteers thought it would be good to have an EMR from that area. Mike agreed, figuring that it would be good to know how to help his own family in an emergency, too. 

He was an EMR for six years before deciding to become certified as an EMT. Becoming certified involved 120 hours of training. He traveled to Worthington twice a week to complete the 110 hours of classroom instruction and spent 10 hours observing in the Worthington Emergency Room. Keeping an EMT basic certification requires 24 hours of continue education every two years. 

Mike worked for Mouw’s Feed and Grain of Leota and Hardwick for 40 years.  During the four years that he worked out of their Hardwick office, he was a member of the Hardwick Volunteer Fire Department.  When Chandler Feed bought out Mouw’s, Mike went to work for them and that is where he still works. Marlys and their daughter, Jennifer, also served as EMTs for a number of years.

Both Mike and Wayne have many stories of stressful and sometimes exciting calls and other calls that were tragic and frightening. The Leota Rescue Squad averages less than a dozen calls per year, but sometimes they might have four calls within a few days and then go months with no calls. 

Top left picture: The Leota rescue squad has four new members. Pictured are Mark Waldner, Julie Ruiter, and Michael Rahlfs. Calvin Annett is not pictured.

Middle picture: Linda Brouwer was a member of the Leota Rescue Squad for 25 years, often serving as secretary. She retired in 2010.

Right picture: Wayne Landhuis (left) and Mike Schuller have retired from the Leota Rescue Squad.