02.23.2009
(Lucedale, Miss., February 23, 2009) – George County Hospital has selected American Medical Response (AMR) to provide all ambulance service countywide, starting March 2, 2009. The hospital will cease managing the ambulance service on that date.
AMR will staff two ambulances in the county around the clock and provide a third ambulance as a back-up. The ambulances and their crews will be based at 4164 Main St., the same location that housed the hospital's ambulance service.
The hospital administration announced months ago its intent to outsource ambulance service. Three ambulance companies, including AMR, submitted proposals to provide the service.
Hospital administrator Paul Gardner said, "AMR has extensive resources in nearby counties, including Harrison County and Mobile County. When we need additional staffed ambulances, as in a disaster, AMR can get them here quickly. We believe we will benefit from participating in AMR's well-developed multi-county ambulance system."
The hospital had employed approximately nine full-time and 28 part-time paramedics and EMTs. AMR spokesman Rick Fayard said AMR plans to hire all hospital ambulance employees who meet AMR's standards.
AMR and its predecessor companies have served Harrison and Hancock counties in Mississippi and Mobile County in Alabama since the mid 1970s. Fayard said he and his associates at AMR are "excited about the opportunity to be a part of George County."
Serving 13 counties in Mississippi, AMR is the state's busiest ambulance company. The Mississippi Department of Health has reported AMR transports nearly one in four ambulance patients statewide.
American Medical Response Inc. (www.amr.net), America's leading provider of medical transportation, is locally operated in 39 states and the District of Columbia. AMR's 18,500 paramedics, EMTs and other professionals transport more than four million patients nationwide each year in critical, emergency and non-emergency situations. Operating a fleet of approximately 4,500 vehicles, AMR, a subsidiary of Emergency Medical Services Corporation, is headquartered in Greenwood Village, CO.