New concerns over slow ambulance response times from AMR

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- American Medical Response, the primary ambulance provider in Buffalo, is responding to new concerns about slow response times in the city.

Buffalo Common Council Member Mitch Nowakowski requested a face-to-face meeting with AMR for answers. He said the complaints he's received about poor ambulance response times from AMR are alarming and that the issue is a serious health problem.

Nowakowski wrote a letter to AMR expressing concerns about the ambulance response times. He said he's heard about 10 complaints from numerous people and businesses in the Fillmore District about ambulances responding to calls either extremely late or not at all.

In some cases, ambulances have shown up over an hour late to people in need of medical care or have not shown up at all, Nowakowski said.

"I've had two emailed complaints, one from a large medical provider who had an event where medical professionals were hosting an event and ultimately, didn't see a car come at all and these are people in the medical profession," Nowakowski said.

AMR said in a statement that it is assessing the claims from Nowakowski. AMR said that they believe its response times fall within industry standards and that more severe cases are prioritized, resulting in less severe responses and possibly taking longer to respond to. AMR said it's also dealing with the national shortage in EMS personnel.

Nowakowski requested information on average response times and wants to know whether AMR has the resources it needs. He also said this is no way a reflection on the hard work of paramedics and EMTs.

AMR said in the statement that it respects the request for proposal process, "which is why we submitted a response to the city's RFP shortly after is was distributed in August 2021."

Last year, Erie County launched a county ambulance service to try to fill in some of the gaps in rural communities. Nowakowski requested that AMR officials attend a council meeting in September when lawmakers return back from recess. AMR said it plans to attend that meeting.

Over eight years ago, Rural Metro, which would then become AMR, came under intense scrutiny on ambulance response times.

Since 2021, the City of Buffalo has been looking for a vendor to handle ambulance services in Buffalo.

In the statement, AMR spoke about its Earn While You Learn program and its funding of paramedic education and training through Erie County Community College, where 17 paramedics are expected to graduate from in August.

"AMR Western New York remains dedicated to collaborating with city leadership, allied agencies and healthcare facilities to continue to improve EMS services to the City of Buffalo," AMR said in the statement. "We look forward to continuing this conversation and speaking with the Buffalo Common Council Finance Committee in September."