Mineral Wells Rotarians now know just what how big American Medical Response Inc. is and the impact it has nationally and internationally after AMR's Director of Fleet Resource Initiatives Ken Thom, pictured second from left, spoke at Wednesday's weekly meeting at Holiday Hills Country Club. Also pictured, from left, are Mineral Wells Industrial Foundation President Richard Ball, Area Growth Council Executive Director Steve Butcher, Rotary Club President David Cairone and Mineral Wells City Manager Lance Howerton.
Thom will be over AMR's new ambulance and fleet refurbishment facility – the company's first such plant – in Mineral Wells. AMR is currently renovating the former Baker Hughes facility on Tradeway Drive in the industrial park off U.S. Highway 180 East, making about $1.3 million in changes and improvements.
The property is 19 acres with seven buildings, which Thom said is larger than what AMR currently needs, but he said it has given rise to future possibilities of expanding the types of production there along with other potential opportunities he said company officials are exploring.
Denver-based AMR selected Mineral Wells after considering several other cities for its ambulance fleet plant including Phoenix. Its property agent was aware of the former Baker Hughes property and initiated discussions with city and Industrial Foundation officials more than a year ago. Several factors delayed AMR's plans to develop the facility, among which was the sale of the company.
Once that was completed, AMR and local city and economic development leaders worked over the past several months to cement the deal, which involves the city leasing the industrial park property from the current owner, LJDJH LLC, then subleasing it to AMR. The agreement extends over 16 years.
The company is the nation's largest ambulance and emergency response provider, as well as providing rural metro fire protection in some areas, with a presence in more than 4,000 communities in 42 states and a workforce of more than 26,000 employees. It has 67 communications centers across the country. AMR operates in several North Texas communities, including Johnson County where it recently contracted to once again provide 911 EMS service there.
AMR operates a national disaster command center in Dallas and has on standby hundreds of ambulances and emergency response vehicles ready to deploy at a moment's notice – which AMR did with the three hurricanes that recently hit the U.S., as well as responding to the tragic Las Vegas shootings, transporting hundreds of shooting victims to hospitals. The company sent fixed-wing aircraft to Puerto Rico to help with emergency efforts in its hurricane aftermath, and has also responded on the West Coast to help during the wildfires.
Thom said last year AMR trained more than 235,000 people in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and delivered 1,095 babies.
With more than 7,000 vehicles in its fleet, AMR decided to open its own refurbishment plant. Two types of ambulances, including ones like Mineral Wells
EMS employs with a large box mounted to a truck chassis and cab, will come to Mineral Wells where the box will be removed and completely overhauled – basically stripped to its bare metal in most cases, Thom said.
The new boxes – with all new electrical components and wiring, communications, cabinets, flooring, lights, paint and graphics – will then mounted onto new chassis and returned to duty.
Thom said typically the company likes to get about 300,000 miles driven on a unit before reconditioning it. He said it sounds much easier than it actually is, requiring on average more than 400 man hours to restore each ambulance. He said the company projects completing about 200 ambulance remounts a year from the Mineral Wells facility, which should be fully operational sometime around the first of the year.
The company has begun its initial rounds of hiring. In the beginning, about three dozen people will begin working at the Mineral Wells site, which will soon double as more personnel are needed to ramp up operations. The jobs filled include management and administration, clerical, safety, vehicle disposition, title (technically AMR will be a vehicle manufacturer at the property), paint and body, metal and wood fabrication, mechanical repair and maintenance, assembly, procurement and warehouse, graphics design and production, electricians, radio repair and installation and cot repair.
The jobs range from general labor, to office, to highly skilled required certification. Officials have said the average salary at the plant – which could eventually employ 200-300 people, will be about $50,000 per year.
The company recently conducted a job fair at Holiday Hills Country Club, which Thom called "very successful" with almost 100 applicants seeking to fill the first round of 30 job hirings. Thom said he is continuing to review resumés. He said while there were some concerns whether Mineral Wells and the surrounding area could provide the workers needed for the plant, he said the job fair allayed any of those concerns. Thom said he was more confident of the ability of the Mineral Wells area to produce the workers needed as opposed to trying to find people to fill those positions in larger, urban markets.
Thom said AMR will also try to build relationships and partnerships within the community. In response to Rotarian and Mineral Wells ISD Superintendent John Kuhn's comment regarding the welding instruction at Mineral Wells High School, Thom noted he has toured the high school's program and the company is employing one of its recent graduates who has been working in Tulsa, but is now returning to Mineral Wells to work for AMR.
Rotary Club of Mineral Wells meets every Wednesday at noon at Holiday Hills Country Club for lunch, networking, updates on club news and projects and a program of interest.