After weeks of multiple complaints against an ambulance company in the metro Atlanta area, the head of that company is coming forward to tell their side of the story.
11Alive has shared the stories of one family who said the local company, American Medical Response, put their son at risk when the driver tried to cut through the grassy shoulder and got stuck. Weeks earlier, body cam footage was released of an AMR EMT punching a teen patient after he reportedly spit on her.
RELATED | Parents speak out after ambulance gets stuck taking 'cut through' with 3-year-old son inside
The stories have gained interest across the state of Georgia, and in an exclusive interview, Terence Ramotar, the Regional Director AMR's Georgia and Florida operations, talked about the changes they’re making to regain the public's trust and to keep patients safe.
When asked what he thought when he first saw the video of the AMR EMT attacking the patient, Ramotar said he was appalled.
“What went through my mind? Well one, it's not what we do. It's not representative of what we do here,” Ramotar said. “It's a bit sad.”
Ramotar said it's sadly common for their crews to be attacked on the job. In fact, it happened on Tuesday. 11Alive’s Ryan Kruger spoke to one of the EMTs who was attacked by a patient suffering a mental breakdown.
AMR is the largest private ambulance provider in the United States, but the company's contract in DeKalb County has faced increased scrutiny. DeKalb fined AMR more than $1.5 million for late response times. And last month, the Dunwoody City Council declared an EMS emergency.
Ramotar said he doesn’t feel AMR’s response time is too slow.
“It's somewhat of a misnomer that patients are dying waiting for an ambulance,” Ramotar pushed back. “The system is well designed so that a first-responder is taking care of that patient while the next available ambulance is on the way to transport that patient to the hospital.”
Ramotar said AMR is working with the county's 911 operations to better triage emergency calls. They're also making staffing changes in hopes of cutting down response times.
“In the meantime, we've stepped up," he assured. "We've said, 'Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna put extra ambulances stationed in corners of the county. We're gonna put more EMTs and paramedics through school to get more staffing.'”
Ramotar did defend the driver in the case where the AMR ambulance got stuck in the grass saying they believed they were making the right decision to get the patient to the hospital. That 3-year-old boy’s parents disagreed.
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