American Medical Response and its parent company, Global Medical Response, have served on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States for three months as they work directly with patients and communities impacted by the virus and provide expert care and equipment to those who need it most.

GMR, sponsor of the GMR Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on Saturday, July 4 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is the world leader in compassionate, quality emergency medical and patient relocation services with more than 38,000 employees across the United States. AMR is the primary medical ground transportation division of parent company GMR.

“The bravery, the skills, the hard work of first responders across the country from many agencies, including us, is beyond anything you could ever hope for or imagine,” said Randy Strozyk, senior vice president at GMR. “Every day, first responders wake up and go out and take care of people, not only in unimaginable situations, but they put themselves as risk. It is a true testament of first responders across the country.”

On Jan. 28, GMR activated its National Command Center (NATCOM) in Dallas, where GMR’s Office of Emergency Management started closely monitoring the spread of the virus while also working with state and federal agencies to deploy teams for screenings, transportations and evacuations.

Around this time, GMR’s medical leaders began working very closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and departments of public health across the United States. This dialogue and close work continue today.

When the virus first began to spread in locations such as King County, Washington, and Los Angeles County, California, AMR teams were among the first to be deployed to these areas to assist the local communities.

Since then, GMR and AMR have deployed over 1,600 caregivers and over 500 ambulances to New Jersey and New York to work on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight and to support public health workers in the areas.

On March 30, GMR and AMR deployed its first crews and ambulances to the area in response to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) request for additional ambulances and emergency medical services personnel.

On April 9, GMR deployed a second team of AMR crews and ambulances to New Jersey and New York, and on April 17 another deployment was sent to New Jersey in response to a request from FEMA to help the federal government and local emergency personnel respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

GMR and AMR serve as the provider of healthcare workers and equipment. Deployed crews work under the guidance of FEMA, state and local governments once they arrive in the area and begin working.

Once medical personnel have been deployed, GMR remains in constant contact with the teams via NATCOM in Dallas to closely monitor the health and safety of its team members.

Monitoring consists of evaluation of each crew member, which includes symptoms and temperature checks every 12 hours. It also includes screening from GMR’s online infectious disease screening platform – Medical Assessment and Screening Tool. A 24/7-staffed Nurse Navigation and Physician team also assesses, screens and monitors employees who have been in contact with COVID-19 positive or presumptive patients, and phone calls and check-ins to GMR crews or personnel who have been quarantined or are self-isolating.

GMR also deployed a mental wellness leader with the crews to assess, monitor and provide guidance on site when crew members experience traumatic incidents, such as learning about the death of one of their patients.

AMR, which serves as the Official Medical Response Partner of the Indianapolis 500, the GMR Grand Prix and the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, is the nation’s largest provider of ground medical transportation and serves as 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 government and military response to a disaster, an act of terrorism or any other public health emergency.