Courtesy photos.
Mike Sanders, alongside Ventura County paramedics and EMTs, sent to provide emergency care in hurricane aftermath
VENTURA COUNTY — Mike Sanders, regional director of American Medical Response (AMR) Ventura County (AMR Ventura County) and its affiliate Gold Coast Ambulance (GCA) — Ventura County’s primary ambulance care provider for more than 70 years — was selected by Global Medical Response (GMR) to lead AMR’s response to Hurricane Helene and Milton.
Mike Sanders.
As branch chief for the emergency response, Sanders — who has worked for AMR Ventura County for more than 20 years — oversaw the on-site operations at the local branch level in both South Carolina and Florida, which included supervision of a core support team comprised of a deputy chief, operations chief, planning chief and logistics chief, and management of more than 300 ambulances and over 700 AMR support personnel from Ventura County and nationwide. Sanders was directly responsible for reporting back to GMR’s Office of Emergency Management at the National Command Center in Lewisville, Texas.
Sanders — who deployed on Sept. 23 for 26 days, was selected to lead the response operations as the result of his dedicated years of service in the EMS industry, backed by significant, EMS disaster response experience that positioned him for this critical role. Sanders began his career in EMS as a paramedic, before spending several years as a strike team leader, then a task force leader, before working on the incident management team in operations, planning and logistics. Only a few personnel nationwide are selected to serve as branch chiefs in national crises.
“Providing care at a moment’s notice is at the core of what we do each and every day, whether that’s responding to the day-to-day emergencies that happen here at home or answering the call for support after a natural disaster,” said Sanders, who, in addition to AMR Ventura County and GCA, also oversees AMR Santa Barbara. “I’m extremely proud of our crews that immediately mobilized to deploy across the country to provide relief not only to those individuals in need of care, but to the first responder communities in need of respite and additional support. This is why we’re here — to keep communities safe.”
AMR Ventura County and GCA sent 13 responders in addition to Sanders, in two series of deployments beginning Sept. 24. A crew from AMR Santa Barbara also joined the response efforts. Deployed AMR personnel provided a range of emergency response including hospital evacuations (and repatriations when needed) and 911 support in the hardest hit areas, allowing local EMS personnel to get some rest and take care of personal needs.
“You can’t see the sheer devastation and wreckage and not be reminded about just how lucky we are to be able to go home to a warm bed at night. For the thousands of people in the path of the hurricanes, they’re now left to pick up the pieces and grapple with navigating a new, unfamiliar reality. I consider us very fortunate to be able to provide what support we could to those who have lost so much.”
As the primary ambulance provider for Ventura County, AMR and GCA respond to more than 70,000 911 calls annually, participate in more than 80 annual local events, show and tells, and demonstrations, and have trained more than 51,000 community members in hands-only CPR training since 2014.
About American Medical Response (AMR)
American Medical Response, Inc., America’s leading provider of emergency medical services, provides mobile healthcare in 40 states and the District of Columbia. More than 28,000 AMR paramedics, EMTs, RNs and other professionals work together to care for more than 4.8 million patients nationwide each year in critical, emergency and non-emergency situations. For more information about AMR, visit www.amr.net and follow American Medical Response on Facebook @AMR_Social on Twitter and Instagram.
AMR is part of Global Medical Response. With?nearly?36,000?team members, Global Medical Response delivers?compassionate, quality medical care, primarily in the areas of emergency medical services and patient relocation services in the United States?and around the world. GMR was formed by combining the industry leaders in air, ground, mobile healthcare services,?and community, industrial/specialty?and wildland fire services. For?additional?information, visit?us on LinkedIn or at?www.GlobalMedicalResponse.com