Operators at the Glendale headquarters of private ambulance company Rural/Metro take 911 calls and direct the dispatchers to hospitals.
Those calls span from Yarnell to Black Canyon City.
Rural/Metro holds a certificate of necessity, or CON, which means Arizona allows the company to operate ambulances across all of Maricopa County. That resulted in a stronghold over the Valley's EMS operations, with Rural/Metro reportedly trying to block cities from running their own ambulance service.
For example, when Tempe put in their application for a CON last year, Rural/Metro intervened, saying it would overlap an area they already covered.
Ultimately, Rural/Metro declared bankruptcy in 2013 and was bought by Colorado-based American Medical Response.
AMR regional operational manager Glenn Kaspryzk says his company’s goal is to rebuild trust. "We’re about building relationships, and maybe mending what happened under Rural/Metro," he said.
