Marietta, GA – June 26, 2007–MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service in Marietta, Georgia has received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) for its compliance with national standards of excellence. MetroAtlanta Ambulance service became the 136th ambulance service in the country to successfully complete the voluntary review process, which included completion of a comprehensive application and on-site review by national experts in emergency medical services (EMS). With this achievement, MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service becomes the first service in the Metro Atlanta area and one of three in the state of Georgia to receive this national accreditation.
The Commission is a non-profit organization, which was established to encourage and promote quality patient care in America's medical transportation system. The Commission's Board of Directors includes representatives of six national EMS-related organizations including the American Ambulance Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Association of Emergency Physicians, the National Association of EMT's, the National Association of State EMS Officials and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The primary focus of the Commission's standards is high-quality patient care. This is accomplished by establishing national standards which not only address the delivery of patient care, but also the ambulance service's total operation and its relationships with other agencies, the general public, and the medical community. The Commission's standards often exceed state or local licensing requirements.
Meredith Hellestrae, Executive Director of CAAS stated that the onsite reviewers found no deficiencies during their review of MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service and that the panel asked she bestow their special commendation for an outstanding achievement.
MetroAtlanta Ambulance's President and CEO stated, "six years ago we began our company with the vision to provide excellence in patient care and customer service to our patients and our community and we really viewed accreditation as another step towards that goal. Being recognized in 2006 by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce as the Business of the Year was a tremendous accomplishment for us and now for us to receive accreditation from CAAS really validates what we've been striving for as an organization. The commission standards represent the best of the best in our industry and everyone in the organization played a valuable role in our ability to meet these high standards. It's exciting to me as a business owner to receive the accreditation but I think our employees are just as excited if not more, to know they work for a company that is considered among the best in the EMS industry. Our achieving accreditation serves as another stimulus for our continual improvement and it brings us one step closer towards meeting our mission of providing service excellence to the communities we serve."
MetroAtlanta Ambulance is Georgia's designated 9-1-1-ambulance provider for North, Northwest, East, Northeast and parts of South unincorporated Cobb County including the cities of Acworth, Kennesaw, Marietta and Smyrna. MetroAtlanta Ambulance also provides contract interfacility ambulance transportation to 14 metro Atlanta hospitals throughout Cobb, Fulton and Dekalb Counties.