County briefed on AMR settlement: faster response times, persistent concerns about training, safety and quality

Multnomah County held a public briefing on American Medical Response’s (AMR) implementation of temporary ambulance staffing changes on the morning of the board briefing. County medical staff, AMR leadership and Teamsters Local 223 paramedics described progress in ambulance availability and response times under a mediated settlement agreement, but union members and county medical leaders warned the board that training, clinical quality and safety problems persist and require urgent attention.

The briefing matters because the settlement agreement changed how AMR staffs ambulances to improve response times, and those staffing changes affect clinical care, worker safety and public confidence in emergency medical services across Multnomah County.

County Health Officer Bruno (health officer, Multnomah County) opened the briefing and framed the settlement as a mediated, temporary set of staffing standards meant to restore contract performance. “This agreement…is an instrument designed to realign delivery of this critical public service within the county’s core objectives,” Bruno said. County medical staff described a monitoring framework that focuses both on response times and on quality-of-care metrics such as scene time, IV success and airway management.

Frontline paramedics and EMTs who testified at the dais said that while response times have improved, they face reduced training time, increased stress and what they described as punitive operational oversight. Michael Carlin, a paramedic and Teamsters Local 223 member, said field training officers often…