American
Medical Response (AMR) has been Santa Clara County's exclusive
9-1-1 paramedic ambulance transport provider since 1979 and renewed
its contract with the county in 2001. The current contract will
extend over a 10 year period of time.
Under
the current system today, AMR staffs paramedics on as many
as 33 advance life support (ALS) transport ambulances daily. These
ambulances are strategically placed throughout the county. AMR
has implemented a satellite based Global Positioning System (GPS)
in the county to locate out 9-1-1 ambulances with precision accuracy.
This enhances dispatch's ability to send the closest ambulance
to an emergency.
Santa Clara
County AMR has customized a first responder programs for several
cities and is currently in the City of Sunnyvale. These specialized
Quick Response Vehicles (QRVs) are Ford Expeditions and are maintained
and stocked with many of the same items as on a 9-1-1 transport
ambulance. These vehicles are loaded at specific Fire Stations
and respond with Fire Engines to 9-1-1 calls. They assist and
treat patients to shorten the length of time the arriving ambulance
paramedic spends with the patient at the scene.
In addition, the EMS system has supplemented its system
by placing paramedics on non-transport fire vehicles. This program
is known as the first responder paramedics program. Often the
first vehicle to arrive at an emergency scene, local fire vehicles
now carry a paramedic who can immediately begin medical evaluation
and life sustaining care. AMR subsidizes the subcontracting
fire agencies 3.5 million dollars annually to support this program.
Santa Clara County AMR has
more then 450 full-time and part-time paramedics and EMTs. We
believe our medical professionals deliver the highest quality
pre-hospital care in the county and our training is more detailed
and in depth. In addition to our field employees, there are about
thirty-five Administrative and Support personnel who assist with
the day-to-day operations and customer support. The average experience
level of our paramedic staff is seven years and more than 30 percent
of our employees have ten or more years of experience. AMR
is able to provide the latest equipment, training and ongoing
education to our employees because of our size and structure locally
and nationally.
Our goal is to
provide the residents of Santa Clara County with the very
best management of illness and injury in the pre-hospital system.
Our continual employee training and strong relationships with
allied agency personnel illustrate our value and clinical excellence.
We consistently monitor and evaluate patient care through our
data systems and train and collaborate with the local medical
community on enhancements to our EMS system to ensure the highest
quality care for our patients.
Santa
Clara County Size and Scope (2006 data)
• 1,312 square miles • 1.8 million residents • 15 cities and districts •
95,727 calls for emergency services • 73,709
ALS (9-1-1) transports • 275 ALS (9-1-1) calls
on average every day (one call @ every 5 minutes)
