By Vince Richardson
Skagit Valley Herald
SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — The cities of Sedro-Woolley and Burlington are teaming up on a pilot program that they hope will cut down on nonemergent 911 calls for their fire departments.
The two-year Mobile Integrated Healthcare Services program will begin in January.
Many fire departments use such programs — also often called Community Paramedic or Community Resource Paramedic programs — to address the nonemergent needs of frequent 911 callers.
Frequent use of 911 and emergency room services are costly, both financially and in terms of tying up first responders on nonemergent calls.
“We started this project over two years ago by looking at how we could minimize our call volume, and we started looking at folks we were spending a lot of time and resources on,” Sedro-Woolley Fire Chief Frank Wagner said. “We were seeing folks that we were getting 70, 80, 90 calls a year just by individuals themselves who really had no 911 emergent need.”
With the continued increase in 911 calls, both fire departments saw value in hiring an individual to help people with nonemergent needs.
The individual hired for this role may have people referred to them or may respond to a call made to 911 that is determined to not be emergent.
Burlington Fire Chief Rob Toth said the person hired will be an EMT or a paramedic, which will give them the ability to determine when a trip to the hospital is necessary.
“The idea is to provide a little more specialized care, at their home or wherever they are residing at the time,” Toth said.
“... and now they are kind of on the radar because oftentimes, we begin to see the same people.”
Such a program had been stalled due to a lack of funding.
However, the PeaceHealth Community Health Committee at PeaceHealth United General Medical Center recognized that such a program could reduce emergency room visits and readmission rates, and awarded Burlington a $200,000 grant to assist in the program’s launch.
Both Burlington and Sedro-Woolley provide EMS transport services to PeaceHealth United General Medical Center .
“I am sure we are going to be able to positively affect PeaceHealth’s bottom line just with readmissions and with the amount of folks just waiting in their emergency room,” Wagner said. “This is going to lead to some really good stuff.”
Burlington will serve as the lead agency during the two-year pilot period, while Sedro-Woolley will help with expenses such as office space and fuel costs.
“But as we grow this system, there is going to be some need to go out and get more funding,” Wagner said. “We have some other folks out there in the region who are willing to do this, and there are a lot of funds available as soon as we show the positive impacts of this program.”
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