PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Multnomah County is reversing its stance on what they are now saying was inaccurate information that County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson presented during a pivotal board meeting about the ambulance crisis.
On August 15, Chair Vega Pederson made this statement during a Multnomah County Board Meeting:
“Before this mediation took place, we were in a very different place with AMR than we are today. AMR’s February proposal to this board was 100% hybrid ambulances [1:1] — no ambulances on our streets with two paramedics and zero BLS [Basic Life Support] ambulances.”
KOIN 6 News investigative reporter Elise Haas was listening in and knew that statement wasn't true, citing documentation and interviews from previous reporting. KOIN 6 immediately made record requests asking for proof of the above claim.
That proof never came and the county is now apologizing for what it's calling a "misstatement."
This all comes after nearly two years of fighting over a solution to the ambulance crisis.
Read More: Emergencies on Hold
Through months of investigation and a series of reports, KOIN 6 already had a copy of American Medical Response's February proposal. That proposal clearly stated their request was only to move half of their crew to the hybrid system of one paramedic and one emergency medical technician (the 1:1 model), not the 100% of the fleet that Chair Vega Pederson said.
In a KOIN 6 story that aired in February, AMR Operations Manager Rob McDonald said, “We’re confident we’re at this point now where there really is only one pathway forward to sustainability in EMS [Emergencty Medical Services] in Multnomah County. That’s to going to half of our total deployment being paramedic and EMT, rather than dual paramedic."
The Aug. 15 board meeting ultimately culminated in commissioners passing a resolution to allow AMR to staff roughly half their ambulances using the 1:1 model.
However, Chair Vega Pederson's inaccurate statement derailed the discussion during the meeting, which devolved into arguing over the facts of the previous proposal.
When challenged by Commissioner Sharon Meieran during that meeting, Chair Vega Pederson and Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Richard Bruno doubled down that they had the documents to back up their claims.
However, eight days after the meeting and after multiple requests KOIN 6 made asking for the proof, Dr. Bruno admitted they were wrong.
"I want to apologize for any misrepresentation. AMR did submit a proposal on Feb. 12, 2024, as referenced in KOIN’s previous reporting. The proposal estimated that half of their fleet would need to be converted to a hybrid 1:1 staffing model to meet response times," Dr. Bruno said in a statement.
Separate from KOIN 6's records requests, we also obtained internal emails from Multnomah County policy advisors acknowledging the misleading information, ending with, "the Health Department is communicating a correction and regrets to AMR directly."
KOIN 6 reached out multiple times to Chair Vega Pederson starting last Friday to request an interview. Her staff declined, saying she wasn't available Monday.
However, they did send a statement from her, saying in part, “When the misstatement of an element of AMR’s February proposal came to light following the August 15 meeting, it was important to correct the record and hold ourselves accountable to providing accurate, updated information – which we did through a correction to our Board and to AMR directly."
In her recent remarks, Chair Vega Pederson did not explain how her misstatement happened in the first place.
It's important to note it took two years for her to agree to essentially the same solution AMR proposed from the get go. In the past year, KOIN 6 reported extensively on how people in our community, including patients and firefighters, had emergency care put on hold because of an ambulance shortage.
At times, emergency responders were forced to do things like transporting a patient to the hospital via a TriMet bus and using a fire truck to transport a hurt 1-year-old to the hospital.
Below is Chair Vega Pederson's entire statement:
"Working collaboratively with our partners is not always easy, but it is always important to me and to the healthy functioning of this county. In our work with AMR – especially through this recent mediation – we’ve recently achieved better outcomes and a better path forward. One of the reasons I have high expectations for AMR following mediation is that we have both compromised and developed a plan together that is a realistic business model for them, while preserving care quality and improving response times for Multnomah County.
"When the misstatement of an element of AMR’s February proposal came to light following the 8/15 meeting, it was important to correct the record and hold ourselves accountable to providing accurate, updated information – which we did through a correction to our Board and to AMR directly, clarifying that AMR’s February proposal did request a conversion to all ALS ambulances, with hybrid staffing for approximately half of their total deployment. I appreciate our Health Department’s commitment to correcting the record as well.
"Ultimately, where we’ve landed today is a stronger place. We’ve preserved BLS ambulances and set a clear floor for ALS ambulances, AMR has made progress on subcontracting, we’re incentivizing AMR to invest and support in their workforce, and are moving forward with a model that will serve everyone’s needs more successfully."
