The drowning of a 9-year-old girl at Hotel Elegante in December demonstrates again the importance of rapid, reliable ambulance services.

Tragically, 9-year-old Yevaeh Patrick Moon lost her life. But the quick response of American Medical Response created the best opportunity for a better outcome. AMR took 1 minute and 38 seconds from the time it received the dispatch to the time it arrived on scene. The Colorado Springs Fire Department was only a couple of minutes behind.

Colorado Springs is deciding whether to extend its contract with American Medical Response or switch to a new provider, Priority Ambulance. Lives depend on the right decision.

Beginning with news of the potential switch to Priority, a false narrative has percolated that AMR is chronically late in responding to calls. That rumor surfaced in notice of a lawsuit filed against the city in response to the drowning. Perhaps on the basis of confused news reports about response times, the notice claims a “poor response time” contributed the girl’s death. In reality, as The Gazette’s reporting explained, AMR’s response was lightning fast and far outperformed contractual requirements.

As a previous Gazette editorial documents, AMR has a good on-time record. Its contract with Colorado Springs calls for 8-minute responses to 92 percent of emergency calls, with exceptions for particular circumstances. AMR outperformed the obligation every month throughout the duration of its contract.

Given the city’s long and stable ambulance contract, the prospect of switching providers raises red flags. The potential new provider’s well-known history of problems elevates those concerns.

Priority’s chief executive officer and chief growth officer have held leadership positions in three ambulance companies that went bankrupt after making alluring promises in contract negotiations. Two of those companies closed without warning and left dozens of municipalities without ambulance service. A third restructured and survived because Santa Clara County propped it up with many millions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies. All that in just the past five years.

A fourth ambulance company previously associated with Priority’s current leadership, Paramedics Plus, recently settled a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice over an illegal kickbacks or pay-for-play scheme between Paramedics Plus and a local government. The DOJ attorney in that case argued that Glenn Leland, the chief growth officer of Priority Ambulance, was a key driver of the kickback scheme. He also swore under oath that Leland’s deposition testimony on two key issues was untrue.

Yet another unreported problem plaguing Priority Ambulance: the bankruptcy trustee for First Med, one of the ambulance companies that went bankrupt under Priority’s current leadership, is suing Priority and its executives for illegally transferring First Med assets to Priority in circumvention of bankruptcy laws. Court documents in that case show First Med ambulances being repainted as Priority ambulances. The outcome of this bankruptcy proceeding could undermine Priority’s financial stability.

The people of Colorado Springs cannot live with an ambulance company prone to shutting its doors overnight. That’s what happened with the previous companies run by Priority’s leadership.

Priority entices our city and others with financial incentives, but promises are cheap. Colorado Springs won’t get anything out of an ambulance company that goes bankrupt and could lose big money in lawsuits. More importantly, the city should not gamble with lives in perilous need of fast and dependable ambulance service.

The Gazette editorial board