Edmond Fire And Rescue Present A New Ambulance Service To City Council

The Edmond City Council is hearing a recommendation from Edmond Fire and Rescue for a new ambulance service. This comes after the city said it has experienced wait times out of compliance with EMSA. 

The City of Edmond is working on updating its ambulance service. Deputy Fire Chief Chris Denton said the current contract dates back to the ‘90s.

“That was before my service, my career in the fire service so lots of things have changed and we've seen landscape change. We've seen a lot of different things. The cities have all grown,” Denton said.

Edmond Fire Chief Chris Goodwin told the city council in April wait times with EMSA are unacceptable. 

“The fire department is filling the void. Our folks are out on the scene waiting. They're providing care while EMSA arrives,” Goodwin said. 

Three ambulance services submitted proposals to a committee to be the new vendor- including EMSA which wanted to renegotiate its contract. They voted unanimously for American Medical Response. 

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that our citizens are getting the best product that they deserve at the best price that they can get it for,” Denton said.

AMR provides services nationwide including in the Oklahoma City metro. Edmond Fire and Rescue said transport fees for the citizens were the lowest of the two finalists and the annual subsidy cost were the lowest as well. In this new contract, there will also be fines to hold the company accountable.

“If responses are more than 5 minutes late, there's fines for that. If they don't meet their compliance, they're fines for that. If they have back-to-back months of noncompliance, they're additional fines for that,” Goodwin said.

If the city council approves the recommendation, the next step will be negotiating a contract with AMR.