ATLANTA — Complaints of slow 911 response times have spurred the City of Atlanta into expanding the city’s emergency medical reach.
Following the city's planned investment to improve its 911 call center, Atlanta is now planning to open a new ambulance site to improve response.
Though it's unclear how robust the city intends the expansion to be, it's a good first step, said Michael Martin. He lost his son four weeks ago.
"He was unresponsive before the ambulance was even called," Martin said of his son.
Jonathan Chace Martin was 31, a man who helped his father and other contractors build swimming pools.
"He was a workaholic," Martin said. "Didn’t like even taking a day off."
He was at a job site on June 2 in Buckhead when he collapsed in the heat. His father says Atlanta fire units responded quickly – but an ambulance took more than 30 minutes.
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"I’m not in the business of playing the blame game, but it’s possible if they’d showed up right away, he’d still be alive. I’ll never know," Martin said.
As the number of city residents has grown, so too has the need for public safety services including police, fire and emergency medical services.
The city fire department runs some ambulances but depends on Grady EMS to handle many of its emergency medical calls. Complaints about wait times drove the city to expand its ambulance reach.
Michael Martin, still grief-stricken from the loss of his son Jonathan, says more ambulances in Atlanta can only help.
"Quicker is better. No doubt," he said.
Atlanta's new ambulance site in southwest Atlanta is expected to open around the start of 2023.