Knoxville, TN (WOKI / WVLT) American Medical Response presented its first progress report to the Knox County Commission Monday night.
The report comes after a new contract promised to fix serious problems with the ambulance service.
The company’s regional manager said since the new contract was awarded in November, the company has added 62 new employees and increased wages.
“That contract was awarded in November, so that really gave us the opportunity to start ramping up staffing as quickly as possible. Now that process takes about two months to get them through the entire process,” said AMR Regional Manager Josh Spencer.
Spencer says the move has also helped with response times, but not everyone sees it that way. One Knox County father told commissioners during the meeting his son was having seizures, and he had to drive his son to the hospital when an ambulance didn’t show up.
“My son could’ve died, and to me that’s unacceptable. What happens the next time I call for an ambulance?” he said.
The commission said it was a miscommunication and that it has been handled.
AMR said it is responding to calls on time at least 72% of the time, and that that number continues to climb each month.
