Press Highlights

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:

• Joint training and system revamping resulted in ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest survival rate of 36% in 2007, compared to 3% in 2004.

• Bystander CPR has doubled since 2004 (25% to 50%).

• PMT has donated 70 Automatic External Defibrillators to the community (50 in SPD patrol cars).

• PMT is funding FD Electronic Patient Care Report system.

• PMT's performance based contract has resulted in a 2009 average response time of 5 minutes and 1 second (5:01) for the city.

• 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."