Ambulance official guarantees move will boost response times in Shawnee County

A pilot program Shawnee County commissioners established Monday will enable ambulances in some circumstances to not carry paramedics, thus helping bring a quicker overall response to calls, an official with the county’s ambulance service provider said.

“I guarantee you we will see improvement in response times,” said Jon Antrim, regional director for Kansas for Colorado-based American Medical Response.

Commissioners Bob Archer, Bill Riphahn and Kevin Cook voted 3-0 Monday to revise the county’s contract with AMR to temporarily waive — for six months, from Sept. 1 through Feb. 29 — the requirement that AMR get a paramedic to the scenes of all its calls within specific amounts of time spelled out in its contract.