Blount County’s contracted ambulance service is working to beat the odds.
The staff of American Medical Response Blount County — made up of about 145 people in total — recently won a Mission: Lifeline EMS Gold achievement award from the American Heart Association, which recognized their work treating heart attack and stroke patients. The award is one the agency has netted frequently. Chris McLain, clinical manager for AMR Blount County told The Daily Times he estimated the organization had received the award about four or five times recently. In 2023 it was among five agencies in Tennessee to win the honor.
“AMR Blount County is honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to providing optimal care for heart attack patients,” McClain said in a July 3 press release. “The Mission: Lifeline program puts proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis, so patients have the best possible chance of survival.”
The award comes as neighboring AMRs struggle to meet some contractual requirements. AMR Knox County in May racked up just under $500,000 in fines for delays in responding to some emergencies, according to a report from the Knoxville News Sentinel published earlier this month. But though AMR Blount has faced similar issues with response times in past years, those problems have largely disappeared, Blount County’s General Services Director Don Stallions said Friday.
About two years into a new contract with AMR Blount, Stallions said: “Our system is working really well.”
Metrics
The AHA Mission: Lifeline EMS award judges the quality of pre-hospital emergency medical service on a few metrics. There’s speed, critical to good outcomes for heart attack and stroke patients.
“Every step of the way, you’re buying time,” said Stallions, who also serves as chief of the Townsend Volunteer Fire Department.
And McClain said the organization’s staff understand the urgency of such issues. AMR puts responders with high-level qualifications on heart attack and stroke calls, he noted in a Friday, July 5, phone interview. Average response time is between 8.5 and 9 minutes, he said.
AMR takes about 60 calls in a day, he said.
Past speed, there’s the care itself. Quality of care has proven a major difference in the way AMR Blount County’s contract with the county government is now structured, Stallions told The Daily Times.
Distinctions
The county’s contract with AMR — which, according to past reporting from the newspaper, has been the subject of emulation elsewhere — changed in recent years. Stallions explained that among those shifts was a bolstered focus on clinical performance and a push to create a more uniform response system. Among other changes, the county now pays a medical director, rather than relying solely on AMR, he noted Friday.
The current contract offers a more efficient combination of care and speed, he said. “They’re getting proper treatment as well as fast treatment,” he said.
McClain told the newspaper that there are a few factors he attributes to AMR Blount’s specific successes. Staffing is a huge part of the answer, he said. There’s an emphasis on training — on increasing education and certification levels for responders, he said.
But there’s also a more human dimension to how staffing affects care, he said. “They’re employed, they live and lots of them were born and raised in Blount County. They’re hometown responders,” he commented.
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