One of the two AMR ambulances that serves Medina County ESD 4 has moved to Natalia in a bid to provide faster coverage to that area.
ESD 4 Board Chair Beth Leonosio, Vice-Chair Ed Dougherty, Treasurer Juan Cuellar, and Secretary Juan Davalos discussed the upcoming change during the monthly meeting held Monday, May 1. Board member Pat Bourcier was absent.
Two AMR ambulances provide primary coverage for ESD 4’s territory. One provides 24-hour coverage, while the other provides backup during the 12-hour period from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, when the highest volume of emergency calls are made.
That ambulance began being stationed outside the Natalia Volunteer Fire Department building on Tuesday, May 2. The ESD 4 Board recently paid $350 for emergency tones to be installed in Natalia, which were activated by Medina County Emergency Management Coordinator Keith Lutz.
According to AMR’s Jason Duff, response times on emergency calls in and around Natalia are around nine minutes.
“Once we get the tones set and the truck gets over there, I see a decrease in that,” Duff said at the meeting on Monday night.
The contract with ESD 4 requires AMR to uphold an average response time of 7:59 or less, 90 percent of the time. Averages are determined on a quarterly basis, or per 100 calls if there are less than 100 calls in a quarter.
“We are going to be stationing an ambulance beside the fire house in Natalia to shorten response times for that side of the county,” Leonosio said at the meeting.
The ambulance that provides 24-hour coverage will remain based out of the EMS building in Devine.
By Marly Davis
Staff Writer