AMR Awarded Five-Year $1.2B Contract As FEMA's National Medical Transport and Support Provider
4.28.2022
GMR, the parent company of AMR, says the new contract begins on May 1, 2022 and continues through April 30, 2027.
Global Medical Response (GMR) announced that its American Medical Response (AMR) business has been awarded a new $1.2 B five-year contract to provide medical transport and support in response to national disasters and emergencies.
As the nation's largest provider of ground medical transportation and FEMA's prime emergency medical service response provider, AMR has just completed a five-year national agreement with FEMA to provide ground ambulance, air ambulance, paratransit services and non-ambulance EMS personnel to supplement the Federal and Military response to a disaster, an act of terrorism or any other public health emergency. During the past five years, the company has deployed 62 times to support FEMA. These deployments included onsite emergency medical services and transportations after hurricanes and wildfires as well as numerous COVID-19 responses, which included sending paramedics, EMTs and ambulances; administering vaccinations; and providing medical staffing support.
During the past five years under the contract, the company’s first responders:
Owen said GMR teams train and plan regularly to respond to catastrophic events and are well-prepared to provide patient care in disaster areas. He explained that the company's national scope allows them to secure caregivers and ambulances, as well as needed supplies, support staff and air medical teams, helicopters and fixed-wing jets equipped to carry patients. GMR’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) also partners with EMS agencies throughout the United States to help with responses for aid.
GMR COO Ted Van Horne said that GMR’s OEM is prepared to stand up self-supported contained EMS communities with mobile housing, kitchen and shower units, all of which can be deployed quickly to disaster areas. As part of FEMA’s contract, the company also keeps hundreds of ambulances serviced and ready in strategic locations across the country. The company can additionally stand up its own mobile satellite communications network to track, dispatch and communicate with first responders in these disaster areas and ensure connectivity with the teams monitoring patient transports.
During the pandemic, the company’s preparedness and ability to respond quickly was in great demand. Since January 2020, GMR’s National Command Center (NATCOM) in Texas was activated while the company responded to requests to provide emergency services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes and wildfires. NATCOM officially stood down from the COVID-19 response after more than two years in early April but remains ready to activate at a moment’s notice.
Because of the evolving medical situation and the destructive nature of COVID-19, Van Horne said the pandemic deployments were extremely difficult on deployed teams, particularly in the beginning. “It is critical that we focus on taking care of the people who care for others. During the past two years, GMR bolstered our mental health and wellness programs for teams at home as well as those deployed under the FEMA contract.” He added that all GMR wellness programs were available to the hundreds of companies that OEM contracted to deploy with them, and these programs will continue with the new contract. The OEM incident management team now deploys a health and wellness leader on all deployments, whose sole job is to care for the first responders on deployments.
Owen said the pandemic shone a light on the first responders who were heroically on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. He said, “During the pandemic deployments, first responders left families behind, worrying for their safety as well as caring for the patients they were so valiantly serving. In the beginning, as thousands of first responders headed to the hard-hit areas of NY and NJ in 2020, we saw a new type of heroism emerge in the EMS community and all healthcare environments – heading into the unknown to provide expert care for others.”
The new contract begins on May 1, 2022 and continues through April 30, 2027.
As the nation's largest provider of ground medical transportation and FEMA's prime emergency medical service response provider, AMR has just completed a five-year national agreement with FEMA to provide ground ambulance, air ambulance, paratransit services and non-ambulance EMS personnel to supplement the Federal and Military response to a disaster, an act of terrorism or any other public health emergency. During the past five years, the company has deployed 62 times to support FEMA. These deployments included onsite emergency medical services and transportations after hurricanes and wildfires as well as numerous COVID-19 responses, which included sending paramedics, EMTs and ambulances; administering vaccinations; and providing medical staffing support.
During the past five years under the contract, the company’s first responders:
- Conducted nearly 400,000 patient interactions or transports
- Provided EMS and transport services in response to 14 hurricanes
- Responded to wildfires in California
- Responded to events in all 10 of the FEMA regions
- Provided services and responded to events in three Native American tribes
- Deployed to 34 states to provide COVID-related responses
- Administered/prepared approximately one million COVID-19 vaccinations
Owen said GMR teams train and plan regularly to respond to catastrophic events and are well-prepared to provide patient care in disaster areas. He explained that the company's national scope allows them to secure caregivers and ambulances, as well as needed supplies, support staff and air medical teams, helicopters and fixed-wing jets equipped to carry patients. GMR’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) also partners with EMS agencies throughout the United States to help with responses for aid.
GMR COO Ted Van Horne said that GMR’s OEM is prepared to stand up self-supported contained EMS communities with mobile housing, kitchen and shower units, all of which can be deployed quickly to disaster areas. As part of FEMA’s contract, the company also keeps hundreds of ambulances serviced and ready in strategic locations across the country. The company can additionally stand up its own mobile satellite communications network to track, dispatch and communicate with first responders in these disaster areas and ensure connectivity with the teams monitoring patient transports.
During the pandemic, the company’s preparedness and ability to respond quickly was in great demand. Since January 2020, GMR’s National Command Center (NATCOM) in Texas was activated while the company responded to requests to provide emergency services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes and wildfires. NATCOM officially stood down from the COVID-19 response after more than two years in early April but remains ready to activate at a moment’s notice.
Because of the evolving medical situation and the destructive nature of COVID-19, Van Horne said the pandemic deployments were extremely difficult on deployed teams, particularly in the beginning. “It is critical that we focus on taking care of the people who care for others. During the past two years, GMR bolstered our mental health and wellness programs for teams at home as well as those deployed under the FEMA contract.” He added that all GMR wellness programs were available to the hundreds of companies that OEM contracted to deploy with them, and these programs will continue with the new contract. The OEM incident management team now deploys a health and wellness leader on all deployments, whose sole job is to care for the first responders on deployments.
Owen said the pandemic shone a light on the first responders who were heroically on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. He said, “During the pandemic deployments, first responders left families behind, worrying for their safety as well as caring for the patients they were so valiantly serving. In the beginning, as thousands of first responders headed to the hard-hit areas of NY and NJ in 2020, we saw a new type of heroism emerge in the EMS community and all healthcare environments – heading into the unknown to provide expert care for others.”
The new contract begins on May 1, 2022 and continues through April 30, 2027.
