
AMR in the Yakima Community
The team at AMR has a single mission: making a difference by caring for people in need. We are caregivers, first and foremost. Our promise to you is that we will treat our patients, customers and teams with respect.
By designing new ways to deliver healthcare, whether in emergency situations or supplementing the home health care organizations, we are steadfastly patient focused and customer centered.
Our commitment as healthcare providers is to keep abreast of the latest medical procedures and practices for our patients and by inventing new technologies to help our customers meet their objectives.
Stories of our AMR Yakima Caregivers
Our mission is providing care to the world at a moment's notice. Meet the AMR Yakima caregivers who live out this mission each day. These individuals are on the frontlines in Yakima County.
David Lynde, AMR Yakima, Operations Manager
David Lynde is proud to call Yakima his hometown. Lynde was born and raised in Yakima, so he knows a thing or two about the local area and the people who inhabit it. One his favorite things about living in Yakima is that there are four distinct seasons, each one more beautiful than the next with an abundant amount of sunshine. Primarily an agricultural community, Lynde also raises cows and grows alfalfa. While that sounds like a big job, that is not his primary occupation.
Lynde serves as AMR Yakima’s Operations Manager and has worked for AMR serving the community for 30 years. He started his career in 1991 as a mechanic and stayed in that role for 15 years. During those years, Lynde frequently had the opportunity to take on extra responsibilities in the operation and many times volunteered to do things in addition to his role as a mechanic.
“By volunteering to do extra work and observing how the operation was managed, I had lots of on-the-job training, so when our Operations Manager left, I was asked to fill in on an interim basis,” Lynde explains. It was then that Lynde decided to get his EMT certification and eventually, he was offered the role of Operations Manager on a permanent basis—that was 15 years ago.
Lynde doesn’t forget his roots though and calls the fleet mechanics the unsung heroes of EMS. They quietly work in the background ensuring that all the ambulances are running smoothly, troubleshooting problems on the roadside and making sure our medics can focus on patient care and our fleet is ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Just like fleet, the medics that serve the Yakima community, have a passion for EMS. Lynde says there’s not really anything he could say to convince someone to choose a career in EMS, what he has noticed is that the profession chooses the people. People who have a passion for taking care of patients and being a critical part of a community.
One of the best memories Lynde has that demonstrated the heart of a first responder was a patient who refused to leave the house because she didn’t want to leave the dog alone. The crew knew the patient needed to get to the hospital so one of the medics volunteered to take care of the dog. The patient finally agreed, and the medic did just that for as long as was needed.
The job is not just always about taking care of people but putting the pieces together and doing whatever needs to be done to provide what’s best for the patient. “We’re part of the community, while many of us have always called Yakima home, many others moved here and have grown to love the area,” Lynde says.
Lynde is very active in the community and serves as a Board Member for Leadership Yakima. He loves living and working in Yakima and is proud to serve in his hometown.