Central New Yorkers can expect better emergency medical care after a several hundred-thousand-dollar investment by American Medical Response. The company acquired Rural Metro last year and is now expanding Syracuse emergency medical service facilities and upgrading equipment. AMR's East Region CEO Tom McEntee says EMS improvements are not only AMR’s efforts but also from the support of other health care providers.
“We are integrated with the rest of the health care system; we're integrated with public safety services, so it's really about improving population health," McEntee said. "A solid EMS system in any community is the safety net. With that base established, we're able to work toward improving the overall health of the community.”
McEntee says one key upgrade was the radio system, which previously had unreliable reception and was less effective communicating with other emergency response teams.
“By moving to the new system, we're able to integrate with other public safety providers...other ambulance, fire departments and whatnot in the area," McEntee said. "The coverage of the system is is much much better than it was, which is important for the safety of our crews, and enhances the ability of our crews to get the help they need.”
McEntee says other improvements include electronic medical records platforms and battery-powered hydraulic stretchers. AMR New York Vice President of Operations Mike Addario says the new facilities are ahead of the curve compared to other cities around the country.
“The operation here has always been a great operation. It's always been clinically focused," Addario said. "This investment will help us elevate our game that much more. For example, we do 50,000 calls a year here in Central New York. But AMR as a whole does almost 5 million calls nationally. Since we all use the same electronic patient care reporting system, we have access to be able to run reports on different types of things.”
AMR officials say they will continue upgrading their services with similar investments in the future.
