Provider of Ambulance Service Slow to Respond in Texas
Records from the Area Metropolitan Ambulance Authority, also known as MedStar, indicate that the Rural/Metro ambulance actually arrived in a little more than 12 minutes.
"You've got to have it," Killman said. "Explain that to a 4-year-old boy, that there isn't a paramedic for you."
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Rural/Metro ambulance serves Fort Worth, Westworth Village, White Settlement, Burleson, Sansom Park, Westover Hills, Blue Mound, Saginaw, River Oaks, Lake Worth, Haslet, Forest Hill, Haltom City and Lakeside.
Rural/Metro is required to meet different response times depending on the level of medical emergency.
For the most critical calls, labeled Priority 1, the ambulance service must respond within nine minutes. In February, the most recent month for which response times are available, Rural/Metro responded on time to Priority 1 calls 86.8 percent of the time, below the 90 percent required in its contract with the Area Metropolitan Ambulance Authority.
On Priority 2 calls, the ambulance service responded within the required 11 minutes 90.1 percent of the time.
On Priority 3 calls, which have a required response time of up to 15 minutes, ambulances responded on time on 86.3 percent of calls.
The service met contract requirements for Priority 4 and 5 calls, which are considered nonemergency patient transfers.
Distributed by the Associated Press
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