City Hall officials in Rochester are exploring plans to invest in enhanced emergency medical services for city residents.
Mayor Malik Evans announced over the weekend that the planned investments in EMS services align with recommendations from Fitch Solutions.
That report was commissioned in late 2021. It evaluates the city’s EMS system and includes an evaluation of several alternative EMS models for consideration by city officials.
“Fitch’s evaluation has presented our team with an objective perspective of our current emergency medical response system,” said Evans, who added that the city already has “begun identifying ways to add to and maximize our current resources to improve emergency health services to city residents.
Right now, Rochester contracts with the ambulance company American Medical Response (AMR). In addition, the city fire department provides basic life support services until AMR arrives at a scene to continue life support and take the patient to the hospital.
City leaders intend to follow several of the recommendations outlined in the report, including maintaining the current unsubsidized EMS model and increasing oversight.
The city’s EMS Medical Director, Dr. Jeremy Cushman released a statement saying that the additional investments in EMS services the city is exploring “will further ensure stable and reliable emergency medical response for Rochester well into the future.”
City Hall noted that city officials are also continuing an investigation into an incidentthat happened last November and came to light in January in which a local resident who was in medical distress was removed from an AMR ambulance.
The man died two weeks after being ordered out of an ambulance and onto a city street corner while having trouble breathing.
AMR’s current contract expires later this year and it contains renewal options that could maintain that relationship with the city through 2026.
