Grady Doctors Raise Alarm Over Ambulance Response

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – Yesterday, doctors urged Grady Health System's new directors to do what they can to keep the hospital's ambulance services funded. Fulton County will cut more than 6 million dollars of Grady EMS funding, starting in July.

Emory professor and Grady doctor Arthur Kellerman says the consequences of the cut will be catastrophic:

KELLERMAN: Our models suggest that we will not have an ambulance available to answer the next life-threatening 9-1-1 call, 88% of the time.

Kellerman says any cuts will have to come out of the Grady EMS operational budget. That could lengthen response times in the city of Atlanta from 8 minutes, to 20 or 30 minutes a matter of life or death.

Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves defends the cuts he says that Atlanta should pay if it wants shorter response times:

EAVES: It the city's responsibility to work with the ambulance providers to bring the response rate down to 8 minutes.

Eaves says that budget pressures are forcing the county make cuts. He says the county will continue to pay emergency medical services to respond within 12-minutes.