Press Highlights
Professional Medical Transport Makes West Valley 911 Debut Wednesday
PMT Begins Serving Peoria 8/18
Arizona’s fastest and most advanced ambulance company will begin serving the City of Peoria Wednesday, Aug. 18 bringing with it more ambulances, more personnel and a more technologically advanced response system than the city has ever seen before.
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Arizona's Most Progressive Emergency Service Provider Gives Equipment, Scottsdale Residents a New Lease On Life
Professional Medical Transport through the Ramsey Community Services Foundations Donates 121 Lifesaving AED's to Scottsdale
TEMPE, ARIZ. August 12, 2010 – Long known as the company with the newest and most progressive lifesaving equipment and training, Tempe-based Professional Medical Transport has donated 121 lifesaving AEDs to the city of Scottsdale, equipping police officers, public buildings and other city facilities with a critical tool used to save a cardiac arrest patient.
And the results speak for themselves.
The save-rate for cardiac arrest patients has improved from nearly zero to 34 percent making Scottsdale a national model for care of folks with critical, emergency heart problems. The foundation’s AED donation gives police officers and others the equipment necessary to administer medical care in those precious first moments should they be the first responders to a call where a person is unconscious, unresponsive or may have drowned.
“When we began serving the city of Scottsdale, we pioneered a program to make it Arizona’s Heart Safe City,” said Bob Ramsey, president of PMT. “Through advanced training and the donation of this equipment we are saving lives in Scottsdale.”
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the biggest, least-reported killer of adults in Pre-hospital care. Scottsdale’s AED program with early defibrillation has redefined public safety roles in addressing a problem that once claimed a Scottsdale life EVERY OTHER DAY.
The total cost of the equipment exceeds $205,000 and was part of comprehensive heart-safe city plan that included the following:
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Increasing the first responders with AEDs to include law enforcement (everyone gets defibrillated within 5 minutes anywhere).
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Updating 911 protocols establish a joint response for an unconscious, unresponsive or drowning call.
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Increasing number of bystanders able and willing to perform CPR in Scottsdale through mass public education.
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Fire Department training for City employees.
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State-of-the art resuscitation plan which is a new, more effective CPR.
PMT began installing AEDs throughout Scottsdale in 2006. Another delivery took place Aug. 10.
Tempe Unanimously Renews 911 Ambulance Contract
Professional Medical Transport Earns 1-Year Contract Extension, Posts Best Response Time in City History
TEMPE, ARIZ. May 6, 2010 – Professional Medical Transport earned unanimous approval for an extension of its Tempe contract after staff declared the 911 ambulance provider to be “exceeding standards.”
PMT met the response-time requirements set by the city 100 percent of the time, although the contract only required 90 percent compliance. Life threatening calls must be responded to within 9 minutes, and non life-threatening calls require a 15-minute response.
The Tempe Fire Department also called PMT personnel, “responsive, cooperative and available” and cited that PMT, “increased the number of ambulance in a primary service area by 50 percent.”
This extension comes on the heels of a PMT earning the city of Peoria’s contract in April.
“We are honored to continue to serve our hometown,” said Bob Ramsey, President of PMT. “Our municipal partners, and ultimately their residents, have recognized PMT’s accomplishments, service innovations and continue to put their faith in our hands to deliver the best possible care.”
President of 911 operations, Pat Cantelme added, “We design seamless systems to meet the needs of the community by decreasing response times, upgrading active management systems and integrating with emergency city services with the best trained ambulance personnel."
PMT began providing 911 ambulance service in Chandler in December of 2005, Scottsdale in February 2006, Paradise Valley in May 2007, Tempe in May 2008 and Guadalupe in July 2008. Each of those contracts was previously held by Southwest Ambulance. PMT is now providing the best response times and service in the communities’ histories and has fostered an unparalleled partnership among public safety agencies in the city, including equipping police cars with Automatic External Defibrillators.
The company was acquired in 2005 by StarWest Associates, whose principals are Bob Ramsey and Pat Cantelme. Ramsey has long been considered one of the country's foremost experts on emergency services, was the founder of Southwest Ambulance and has widely earned the designation as one of the fathers of modern ambulance service.
Until PMT was acquired by Cantelme and Ramsey, Southwest Ambulance had little competition in the market, a dynamic that prevented the opportunity for change and the best possible care. PMT is now six for six in direct competition with Southwest Ambulance.
Professional Medical Transport Makes West Valley Debut
Peoria City Council Selects PMT Over Southwest Ambulance as Exclusive 911 Provider
Peoria City Council agreed with its staff's unanimious recommendation and selected Professional Medical Transport as its exclusive 911 ambulance provider April 20.
The city’s salute to PMT’s signature deployment systems, record-setting response times, superior equipment and exemplary regional cooperation signals yet another municipal contract in which PMT beat out the incumbent provider, Southwest Ambulance. In fact, PMT has won each contract it has competed for including Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe and Chandler.
Southwest Ambulance has undergone numerous executive changes since losing these contracts, along with other challenges.
The contract must now be approved by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
“We set out to build an organization that redefined the standards for emergency services,” said Bob Ramsey, President of PMT. “Our municipal partners, and ultimately their residents, have recognized PMT’s accomplishments and continue to put their faith in our company to deliver the best possible care.”
President of 911 Operations Pat Cantelme added, “We design seamless systems to meet the needs of the community by decreasing response times, upgrading active management systems and integrating with emergency city services with the best trained ambulance personnel."
Following the City Council's 5-1 approval, PMT will begin servicing Peoria in August. The contract is for 3 years, with 2-year renewal options.
PMT began providing 911 ambulance service in Chandler in December of 2005, Scottsdale in February 2006, Paradise Valley in May 2007, Tempe in May 2008 and Guadalupe in July 2008. Each of those contracts was previously held by Southwest Ambulance. PMT is now providing the best, high-performance service in the communities’ histories and has fostered an unparalleled partnership among public safety agencies in the city, including equipping police cars with Automatic External Defibrillators.
The company was acquired in 2005 by Starwest, whose principals are Bob Ramsey and Pat Cantelme. Ramsey has long been considered one of the country's foremost experts on emergency services, was the founder of Southwest Ambulance and has widely earned the designation as one of the fathers of modern ambulance service. Cantelme led the Phoenix Firefighters Union for more than two decades.
Until PMT was acquired by Cantelme and Ramsey, Southwest Ambulance had little competition in the market, a dynamic that prevented the opportunity for change and the best possible care. PMT is now six for six in direct competition with Southwest Ambulance.
And most importantly, response times are dropping for those in need.
Peoria Emergency Services Evaluation Panel Report
Click on the link below to view the report...
[ Peoria Emergency Services Evaluation Panel Report PDF ]
The Secrets to Scottsdale's Survival Success
Cardiac saves spike with new measures; PMT's Ramsey honored by Eagles
If you had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Scottsdale, AZ, in 2004, your chance of surviving was just 3%. Three years later, it was 36%.
Behind that astonishing jump was a concerted effort by the city's healthcare and public-safety leaders, who instituted a range of changes aimed at making Scottsdale a "heart safe" community.
The most prominent of these was a change in protocol to continuous chest-compression CPR by the city's first responders. The hands-only CPR--100 compressions a minute, with no rescue breathing--appears to contribute to increased survival rates. It's also being taught also to lay citizens: Over 18 months, the Scottsdale Fire Department trained more than 2,000 people in the intervention.
The lack of mouth-to-mouth contact in hands-only CPR appears to make nonrescuers more comfortable assisting those in need: Between 2005 and 2009, the city's bystander CPR rates doubled, going from 25% to 50%.
"That's unheard of," said Dr. Ben Bobrow, medical director for Scottsdale Fire and the Arizona Department of Health Services' Bureau of EMS & Trauma System. "We've just scratched the tip of the iceberg. I think the reason is they're teaching you a different way to do it."
Scottsdale began tracking its cardiac arrest survival rates after forming its own fire department in 2005. That led to the improvement campaign, which also involves the city's contract ambulance service, Professional Medical Transport. PMT, fire and law enforcement personnel train together, ensuring close integration of efforts across Scottsdale public safety.
Other components include a public access defibrillation program started by PMT in 2008--that led to placement of 20 AEDs across Scottsdale and 50 more in police vehicles, and plans to distribute 175 of the devices by 2011--and measuring cardiac arrest survival through the Department of Health Services' SHARE (Save Hearts in Arizona Registry and Education) program. That tracks survival rates across the state, and provides the data back to public safety, businesses and schools.
"Years ago, no one expected someone in cardiac arrest outside a hospital to survive," Bobrow said of the city's success. "Now in Scottsdale, if they don't survive, I wonder what we could've done differently."
Lifetime Award for PMT's Ramsey
The improvements in Scottsdale weren't lost on the nation's top EMS medical directors, who bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award on Professional Medical Transport owner Bob Ramsey during the EMS State of the Sciences ("Gathering of Eagles") Conference in February in Dallas.
The conference brings together EMS medical directors from the nation's largest cities and top docs from key federal agencies to discuss cutting-edge clinical and operational issues that inform American EMS policy. Its leaders honored Ramsey for his overall EMS contributions and record of service, design and innovation in healthcare, as well as his leadership on governmental, statutory and administrative matters.
"I am very humbled and grateful to be recognized by the nation's top emergency medical directors," Ramsey said. "More important, I'm proud to have been a part of Arizona's emergency medical systems, which deliver patient outcomes among the nation's best."
Ramsey has been involved in helping people since starting an emergency bicycle response team in his neighborhood as a boy. He went on to found companies in the medical, ambulance, air transportation, information technology, marketing and billing fields, including PMT and Southwest Ambulance.
To view the article from EMSresponder.com please click on the link below:
http://www.emsresponder.com/article/article.jsp?id=12680&siteSection=1
City of Scottsdale Extends Contract with PMT
Scottsdale City Council on Tuesday night voted 6 to 1 in favor of PMT to accept Scottsdale Fire Chief William McDonald's strong recommendation to extend the emergency ambulance contract with Professional Medical Transport Inc.
Chief McDonald sited a number of reasons for his recommendation of this unique public private partnership that started in February 2006. Among them:
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Joint training and system revamping resulted in ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest survival rate of 36% in 2007, compared to 3% in 2004.
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Bystander CPR has doubled since 2004 (25% to 50%).
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PMT has donated 70 Automatic External Defibrillators to the community (50 in SPD patrol cars).
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PMT is funding FD Electronic Patient Care Report system.
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PMT's performance based contract has resulted in a 2009 average response time of 5 minutes and 1 second (5:01) for the city.
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As well as a response measurement of 8:59 min, greater that 90% of the time.
In spite of opposition and attacks to the extension from Southwest Ambulance, the previous ambulance provider, the Mayor and Council awarded the extension to PMT based on their outstanding performance and the strong recommendation from Chief McDonald in a 6 to 1 vote.
Representing PMT at the Council meeting were the two principals, President Bob Ramsey and 911 CEO, Pat Cantelme. This was the fifth time that PMT bested Southwest Ambulance.
PMT cuts response time
by Ofelia Madrid - Mar. 20, 2009 10:19 AM
The Arizona Republic
Eight minutes, 59 seconds.
It could be the amount of time a clock allows its owner to snooze, but nine minutes is the response time limit set by Professional Medical Transport Ambulance in its promise to Scottsdale.
Since PMT took over the ambulance-service contract in Scottsdale three years ago, ambulance response times in Scottsdale have been shaved by at least a minute, providing the best response times in the community's history.
Before PMT, ambulance response times in Scottsdale hovered above 10 minutes, PMT President Bob Ramsey said.
One minute on a single call might not seem like a huge difference, but that amounts to almost 16,000 minutes over an entire year, Ramsey said, based on the number of calls PMT handles in a year.
"Its critical when you think of it," said Patrick Cantelme, PMT's Chief Executive Officer.
"That average means that on critical calls, a crew might arrive in four to five minutes quicker than otherwise. For those types of calls, those minutes make a huge difference."
The Tempe-based ambulance service works with the Scottsdale Fire Department to transport victims in emergencies.
"We're the primary caregiver and the ambulance is for transportation, but sometimes they do get there first." said Jay Ducote, Scottsdale Fire's Emergency Medical Services Battalion Chief.
Scottsdale fire has an average response goal of four minutes, 20 seconds, Ducote said.
When PMT took over the contract in 2006, "We tried to look at what Scottsdale Fire was providing." Cantelme said.
The Phoenix Fire Department's Regional Dispatch Center, which dispatches many Valley fire departments, including Scottsdale, now dispatches Scottsdale Fire and PMT at the same time.
It's a change that makes sense now, but, years ago, dispatch would first send out firefighters and then the ambulance.
Another challenge was the city's geography, Cantelme said. With the city spanning 31 miles north to south and about 15 miles from east to west, PMT is constantly moving its three units.
"It's been a great partnership," Ducote said. "The integration between their employees and our firefighters has been seamless."
That's important because Ducote guesses that when PMT arrives on the scene, the victims don't even realize the difference between the firefighters and the paramedics. "That's because the service is always excellent." Ducote said.
A lot of that has to do with PMT's training, Ramsey said.
PMT employees are trained in the National Incident Management system, Cantelme said. That means that PMT uses the same "emergency playbook and procedures" as the federal requirements.
It's an enhancement to the services, Cantelme said.
"We invite PMT to all our trainings and we train each other's crews, whether it's cardiac training or continuing education." Ducote said.
PMT used its Scottsdale partnership as a model as it sought other Valley city bids.
Guadalupe is the latest municipality to award PMT a contract. Tempe, Paradise Valley and Chandler already use PMT.
"The partnership with Scottsdale fire has been absolutely outstanding," Cantelme said. "And it's the Scottsdale citizens who have benefited from the quality of emergency services."