Every minute counts: National EMS faces scrutiny over ambulance response times in Athens

National Emergency Medical Services (EMS), the contracted for-profit 911 emergency ambulance provider for Oconee and Athens-Clarke counties, has recently drawn criticism from public officials over response times and call prioritization. The Athens-Clarke County (ACC) Mayor and Commission meeting in September showcased the twice-yearly report on the performance of emergency medical services in Athens, revealing that total response time for calls in urban areas was seven minutes and 48 seconds compared to 10 minutes and 41 seconds in non-urban areas from April to June of this year. District 8 Commissioner Carol Myers questioned the map National EMS employs to decide how fast its fleet of ambulances needs to respond to a medical 911 call. “I really think that we need to basically do away [with] this map. It does not make sense in terms of differentiating response times,” Myers said. “We need to put this into the present time for 2026.” Myers’ frustrations stem from National EMS categorizing areas on the map as either rural or urban. Myers contested that these distinctions are often random and not grounded in the modern makeup of the county. These categorizations have a substantial effect on how quickly a National EMS ambulance arrives. Jean O’Connor, a public health practitioner and part-time professor of health policy and management at the University of Georgia, spoke on the importance of response time in emergency medicine, emphasizing the “golden hour" — the critical 60-minute window following a severe injury. “You get the most survival when you can get someone to a hospital… in that hour. That’s key to survivability,” O’Connor said. “So, if it takes 20 minutes [for EMS] to get [to the scene] and it's going to take 20 minutes to get them back to the hospital, that only leaves you 20 minutes on the scene. I know that sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not.” The map used by National EMS has not been updated to reflect how much Athens and surrounding areas have changed. “We've had a lot of growth and change in our communities, and Athens has grown and changed. So keeping up with that [is important], and thinking about what's urban, what's rural and how to get there,” O’Connor said. In the midst of the recent scrutiny, there have been some calls for ACC to find a new 911 emergency ambulance provider. Oconee County’s Board of Commissioners has already voted to sever their relationship with National EMS at the end of this year, and many have called on public officials in Athens to do the same. A variety of factors, such as response time, go into changing emergency ambulance providers. Georgia law says local governments should consider economy, efficiency and public welfare when choosing an ambulance provider. James P. O’Neal, clinical professor at UGA’s Institute for Disaster Management and former Georgia EMS medical director, outlined the process that goes into the decision. “You also have to look at those other pieces before an [EMS] council will … consider applicants who say they have a better response time, [making sure] they don't have deficiencies on the economy side and the public welfare side,” O’Neal said. “The challenge with 911 service is that predicting the volume and having enough of the right equipment available, it’s a very hard calculation,” O’Connor said.