Do not entrust the well-being of your loved ones to Americare Ambulance. My brother suffers from ALS and must be transported to his doctor visits. Twice now they have been late, the last time by 1 1/2 hours. This was not an unavoidable or unfortunate occurrence. They had confirmed the 7 a.m. arrival time with the subacute care facility the prior evening, yet when called repeatedly by both the Nursing Supervisor and myself that morning, Al Sanchez, Americare's dispatch supervisor, claimed the RN for the ambulance was to blame, running late by 90 minuteste. When confronted upon arrival, the entire 3-man team showed me their pagers. They had not been informed of the call until 6:59 a.m. that morning although the ambulance was scheduled to pick up my brother at 7 a.m., one minute later. Clearly Americare did not want to lose the business by honestly saying they would be unable to meet by brother's needs and arrive in time to make his appointment.
The horrific result is that the pain and anti-anxiety meds timed to his scheduled transportation and doctor's appointment began to wear off (we did not see the doctor until almost two hours after his 9 a.m. appointment). Imagine having to stand by helplessly as your loved one is subjected needlessly to terrible pain and mounting fear that the doctor we had long waited to see would not be available because we were so late. This was almost indeed the case. Fortunately, the doctor did not hold us responsible for the unprofessional and compassionless actions of Americare.
The nursing supervisor at the subacute facility has sworn never to use them again, not only for my brother but for any other patients.
Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, I tried four times to speak with Mike Summers, President and CEO, thinking someone in upper management responsible for organizational or medical systems would want to know how Mr. Sanchez was unethically confirming transportation calls Americare had no previously scheduled intention of making. Instead, I was twice told I would have to speak with someone named Craig, Americare's communications director. This is what should give prospective clients the greatest concern. Clearly, Americare thinks what happened to my brother is a public relations concern, not a clear breach of professional and medical ethics or basic human compassion. Although Americare blamed their own employees, I believe the ambulance team who were professional and proved with their pagers they had not received the call until their scheduled time of arrival. I can only assume Americare did not want to release the booking despite surely knowing they could not possibly arrive on time. I wish Mike Summers or Al Sanchez had been with me and my brother that morning as he nearly cried in pain and I had to beg for the doctor to see us despite being 90 minutes late. Shame on them. read more
