As Multnomah County vote secures solution to ambulance crisis, commissioners battle over narrative

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — Even as a vote from the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners has secured a solution to the crisis surrounding slow ambulance response times, the battle over the narrative of how we got here is still being fought.

After more than a year of arguing among county leaders , Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson is recommending the very solution she stonewalled all this time.

On Thursday, the county approved allowing about half the ambulances to be staffed with two paramedics and the rest staffed with one paramedic and one emergency medical technician (EMT), known as the 1-1 model. A handful of ambulances will be staffed with two EMTs for minor medical calls.

Despite the fact that all commissioners voted in favor of this change, the meeting still proved to be a contentious one.

For months, Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran has implored Chair Vega Pederson to let American Medical Response (AMR) deviate from the dual paramedic staffing standard, and allow some of the ambulances to staff the 1:1 model amid a national paramedic shortage, which the chair is now referring to as “hybrid model.”

The 1:1 or hybrid model means having one paramedic and one EMT on ambulances.

The entire board officially adopted allowing this model on Thursday.

“911 has been a joke in our town,” Commissioner Meieran said. “Hopefully this is an opportunity to move forward doing what we could have and should have done from day one.”

Since July of 2023, KOIN 6 News has reported on how AMR wanted to switch to half their staff using the 1:1 model . In an interview with KOIN 6 six months ago, Chair Vega Pederson said she opposed this.

Today, she made this claim: “Before this mediation took place, we were in a very different place with AMR than we are today. AMR’s February proposal to this board was 100% hybrid ambulances [1:1] — no ambulances on our streets with two paramedics and zero BLS [ Basic Life Support ] ambulances.”

However, when KOIN 6 interviewed AMR back in January, they told us something very different.

“We’re confident we’re at this point now where there really is only one pathway forward to sustainability in EMS [Emergencty Medical Services] in Multnomah County. That’s to going to half of our total deployment being paramedic and EMT, rather than dual paramedic,” AMR Operations Manager Rob McDonald said in a KOIN 6 story that aired in February .

During the meeting, Commissioner Lori Stegmann mentioned that what the county approved on Thursday is nearly identical to what AMR initially proposed, acknowledging Meieran’s point.

“As usual, it has been hard to listen to the spin, changing stories and inconsistent position the county has taken to try and change the narrative to deflect from not doing something to save lives that the county could have been doing for 1.5 years,” Meieran said. “It’s about damn time.”

Chair Vega Pederson and EMS staff said they have written documentation to back up their claims. KOIN 6 News asked for that proof early Thursday afternoon but we still haven’t received a response.

AMR said they’ve already started deploying this new staffing standard and that residents should start to see faster ambulance response times immediately.

Rob McDonald, regional director for American Medical Response, said in a statement:

AMR is excited about today’s vote. The decision to allow AMR to provide care in a one paramedic, one EMT model increases our availability to respond to emergency calls, ensuring the citizens of Multnomah County have access to the timely and compassionate care they deserve. We look forward to working with the County and EMS Office to implement this solution and to continuously evaluating and improving it.

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