Washington, D.C., will now dispatch private ambulances for medical calls in an attempt to lighten the burden on the city’s emergency response services, which are often criticized for slow response times.
A third party ambulance service contracted from American Medical Response (AMR) begins Monday in the District, transporting patients with minor injuries or symptoms to local hospitals. Members of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services will still respond to all emergency medical calls, however the severity of the issue will determine which ambulance transports the patient, reports WTOP.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the initiative in February as a way to free up city ambulances and emergency personnel to more efficiently respond to medical emergencies. City officials say the year-long contract will leave more EMS personnel available to transport patients suffering from a heart attack, stroke or other life-threatening issues. (RELATED: Critics Lash Out At DC Fire And EMS: ‘Better Off Calling Uber’ Than 911)
“The greatest impact will be availability,” D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Tim Wilson told WTOP. “If you have more units available for critical emergencies, you probably will see some impact on response times.”
The $9 million dollar program will also assist the city in replacing the existing fleet of ambulances, which have regular mechanical failures and need constant repair. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Gregory Dean said the private ambulance service will assist the city as it adds roughly 30 new ambulances to its fleet over the next year, reports WAMU.
“Right now we’re running about 500 calls a day,” Dean told WAMU. “What that means is we have a tremendous amount of out-of-service time and we continue to run out of ambulances on a daily basis to be able to provide service.”
D.C. Fire and EMS drew brutal criticism in February when the city’s medical director, Dr. Jullette Saussy, resigned in a scathing email to the mayor. Bowser hired Saussy just seven months earlier, specifically to reform the city’s emergency services. She ripped the city’s EMS, saying people are “needlessly dying” in a “feel good” environment where reform is impossible. (RELATED: DC Medical Director Drops BRUTAL Resignation Letter, Calls Out Officials)
“The culture of the DC Fire and EMS Department is highly toxic to the delivery of any semblance of quality pre-hospital patient care,” Saussy wrote in her resignation letter. “EMS reform, even attempts to make basic changes, are met with resistance from the top down.”
Saussy is critical of the private ambulance initiatie, saying it does not address the underlining failures in the department.
Saussy told WAMU, “It’s a privatization in order to ‘fix the problem,’ which is a workaround rather than cleaning your own house first and then supplementing as needed.”
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