PORTLAND, Ore. — More than a month into a Multnomah County pilot program meant to ease staffing burdens, ambulance services provider American Medical Response (AMR) said it's seeing improvements in response times for emergency medical calls.
In August, AMR and Multnomah County struck a compromise deal easing the county's previous requirement that ambulances each be staffed with two paramedics for "advanced life support." Now, ambulances can be staffed with one EMT and one paramedic, sometimes referred to as "hybrid" crews, in addition to an existing pilot of EMT-only ambulances, or "basic life support."
Under the agreement with Multnomah County, AMR needs to be in compliance by hitting contracted response time benchmarks as of Nov. 1.
As soon as county commissioner voted to approve the plan in mid-August, AMR said, they began deploying ambulances under the new hybrid model.
As of Sept. 16, AMR had launched "an entirely new deployment plan" to increase the availability of advanced life support ambulances each day, the company said. They plan to keep increasing availability up to the Nov. 1 deadline.
AMR said there has already been an 85.6% decrease in "level zero" events — times when there are no ambulances available for dispatch — since upping deployment, with a 24% improvement in ambulances available per day.
But level zero events haven't gone away. KGW reported Sept. 16 on a man who cut himself with a chainsaw and had to be taken to the hospital in a Portland Fire & Rescue engine when there were no ambulances available to respond.
According to AMR, they've hired 65 new EMTs, brought in more vehicles from other states and purchased 12 new ambulances. They've also been working for some time on boosting recruitment, paying EMTs to work while they're getting certified and providing scholarships for paramedics.
KGW reached out to Multnomah County for comment, a spokesperson provided the following statement:
"It is a positive step that AMR has increased hiring EMTs but it is too soon to tell definitively that there has been clear improvement in ambulance availability and response times. The County is encouraged by AMR’s optimism and reported progress during their ramp up to Nov. 1. That is the day when, under the terms of the settlement agreement, the company is expected to be in strict compliance.
"AMR still has a lot of work ahead and we will continue to work with them in the coming months toward achieving our shared goal of increased ambulance availability and better response times for the people of Multnomah County."