Mergency, Mergency

The Official Unofficial Minutes of the WL BOA
July 3rd

So the new contract with AMR will provide one ambulance @ 24 hrs and another @ 12 hours, basically giving the District coverage with one and a half vehicles.  Wheeler did disclose if that was not adequate more equipment may be necessary, but not at the $434, 000 contract quote, but $500,000 or higher.  Add to that the District "kitty" is getting low and it is the intention of the District to have at least 3 months of service cost in reserve  ($100,000) insuring a rate hike for the levy coming up in the fall.


Best question of the night?  No, it wasn't an alderman or the mayor...it was the Chief of Police.  He asked during the discussion of response times how did the District know the report submitted by the vendor (KCMO and now AMR) was correct.  Pregnant pause as Wheeler then responded that the District had not audited or corroborated the stats.  Interesting.

L(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Speaking of stats and response times...Wheeler also shared that KCMO was not interested in a mutual aid agreement with AMR.  He also mentioned potential dispatch issues for AMR because of different systems being used, and alluded to problems with Platte County.  Dyer, in an interview with the KC Star said response times by AMR could be delayed by two minutes "because of the different emergency response systems" (Wed, July 4).  I guess he couldn't resist throwing one last Molotov cocktail.

What does it mean to you and me?  First response for emergencies tend to be WL Police followed by Southern Platte County Fire, followed by KCFD, soon to be AMR.  In most cases, transport to a hospital does not occur, a good thing, right?..especially in light of all the response time issues.  How long will the District wait before performance issues are resolved with the new vendor?  Let's hope less than two and a half years...your life may depend on it.  

Related articles

• New ambulance service for South Platte

  ---