Hurricane Ian Approaches Florida; Patient Evacuations Begin

LEWISVILLE, TX—Patient evacuations led by Global Medical Response (GMR) have begun in Florida communities ahead of Hurricane Ian’s expected landfall later this week. Meanwhile, GMR has also mobilized additional assets—including medical evac helicopters and crews—to Florida as Hurricane Ian continues to gain strength.

The additional mobilization is in response to the federal government's request to American Medical Response (AMR) for EMS transports as part of its contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). AMR is GMR’s primary ground business.

Based on the anticipated trajectory, deployed teams have started evacuating patients in Florida.

“Evacuating patients from healthcare facilities in the potential path of this storm is our top priority,” said Randy Owen, CEO of Global Medical Response. “The request for additional resources came because Hurricane Ian is rapidly intensifying and is currently forecast to make landfall as a category three storm. Our teams are doing everything they can to help the communities expected to be impacted most.”

First responders from GMR arriving in advance of the storm include additional EMTs, paramedics, medical flight crews and incident management teams who will join the prior deployment of first responders, ambulances and paratransit vehicles. This is part of a two-week deployment in response to the hurricane and its expected impact on Florida.

All deployed teams are continuously monitored and dispatched via GMR’s National Command Center (NATCOM), located in Lewisville. GMR has staffed a fully functional communications center to dispatch and monitor the air and ground crews from its Integrated Communications Center in Lewisville.

“Hurricane Ian is projected to be a devastating storm. Forecasts are predicting that the storm will slow by the time it reaches the west coast of Florida, which means it has the potential to produce significant storm surges and very high winds. GMR teams prepare for these events year-round, and we will be there as long as we’re needed,” said Ted Van Horne, COO for Global Medical Response. He added that GMR first responders and support staff will operate under the guidance of FEMA during this deployment.

As the nation's largest provider of ground medical transportation and FEMA's prime emergency medical service response provider, AMR has a national agreement with FEMA to provide ground ambulance, air ambulance, paratransit services and non-ambulance EMS personnel to supplement the federal and military response to a disaster, an act of terrorism or any other public health emergency.