AMR working to get more ambulances on Harrison County streets

HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - American Medical Response is making moves to put more ambulances on the streets.

Monday, AMR officials will ask the Harrison County Board of Supervisors to permit the company access for Basic Life Support ambulances to answer certain calls. The president of the Mississippi Ambulance Alliance says these types of ambulances already operate in parts of the state, sending basic EMTs to calls that don’t require a paramedic.

Harrison County’s contract requires AMR to be on the scene within ten minutes inside city limits. According to data obtained by WLOX News, in 2022, AMR wasn’t meeting that requirement in Biloxi and Gulfport for most of the year.

Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes previously told WLOX city firefighters beat AMR to the scene for most calls.

“Our team usually get to calls before an ambulance does, before anybody else, stabilizing victims, making sure they’re either tended to if they’re injured, and then the ambulance are the ones that does the transport if it’s needed to a medical facility or hospital. Our front lines guys, our first responders, do a remarkable job day in and day out,” Hewes said.

The request would add ambulances for the remainder of AMR’s current contract with Harrison County which runs through the end of the year. AMR has held its service contract with Harrison County since 1993.

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