fier departments adopt in-home preventative medical visits

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Rockford firefighters to visit chronic patients at home

Jun 26

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | Comments off

OSF Saint Anthony is teaming up with the Rockford Fire Department to start visiting sick patients, who are frequent visitors to the ER, at their homes. It’s called Mobile Integrated Care.

“We can tell them what [behavior] to change all we want in the hospital, but unless we can help them, and encourage them, and reduce some of these barriers, they’re not going to be able to make the changes [they need] and they might plunk themselves right back into the hospital,” said OSF’s Emergency Medical Services’ Director, Jane Pearson.

The program will start with 10 to 15 patients at a time. They’re focusing on the chronically ill, frail, elderly, or mobility-impaired.

“Perhaps they’re in the hospital with an acute illness but they have chronic medical problems,” said Pearson. “When they’re released home, they’re not always quite ready to assume all their daily care.”

Fire Chief Derek Bergsten hopes the initiative will reduce 911 calls, which cost the city about $21,000 last year.

“I think it’s going to prove a benefit to their overall health and decrease admissions … to the hospital,” said Bergsten.

A Rockford Fire Department paramedic or EMT, along with Pearson, will work hands-on to help the patients, from their diets to connecting them with social services.

“It’s essentially trying to find some way to try to give education, and services and support, and eliminate barriers for patients that are falling through the gaps,” said Pearson.

Other Rockford initiatives in home visits can be found HERE and HERE

Tags: fier departments adopt in-home preventative medical visits, Fire Chief Derek Bergsten, fire departments embrace in home preventative medical visits, hospital and fire department to make home visits to prevent 911 calls from chronic patients, Jane Pearson OSF's Emergency Medical Services' Director, Rockford Fire Department

Rockford firefighters and area nurses perform home visits

Nov 5

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 2 Comments

Excerpts from RRStar.com:

Much the way social service agencies work to put themselves out of a job, fire departments do the same.

Although municipalities typically require builders to put smoke detectors in new homes, many fire departments provide free smoke detectors to residents of older homes and conduct free home inspections to identify possible fire hazards. Overhead sprinklers are required by code in new commercial buildings, especially high-rises. Even the number of wildfires caused by discarded cigarettes has declined by 90 percent according to the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station.

The end result is fewer fires nationwide. Rockford is no exception. There were 638 structure and non-structure fires in the city in 2014, down 20 percent from 796 in 2005.

Even though there are fewer fires, the Rockford Fire Department’s call volume continues to rise by an average of 3 percent each year. Of last year’s 26,010 calls, just 2.45 percent were for fires. A whopping 80 percent were EMS and search and rescue related.

Driving the increase in medical calls is an aging Baby Boomer population. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of 2014, 20 people accounted for 192 calls and visits to SwedishAmerican Hospital’s emergency room.

This year, the Fire Department in partnership with SwedishAmerican Hospital initiated a pilot program called Mobile Integrated Healthcare. A focus group of about 20 people known as “frequent fliers” were identified for making numerous 911 calls and ER visits by ambulance.

Bob Vertiz, Rockford Fire Department EMS coordinator, and two SwedishAmerican nurses with case management and social service work training, routinely visited the would-be patients at their homes. While Vertiz checked for fire and safety hazards in the home, the nurses made sure the patients were taking their medicines as prescribed and scheduling their doctor visits. They also tried to address any other heath concerns expressed by the patient.

“Most of the people who utilize our services often have legitimate health concerns,” Knott said. “The ideal of a mobile integrated health care program is to get those people in touch with the right services. Picking someone up at their house and taking them to the hospital isn’t the care that they need. They need long-term solutions to issues, and that’s what this does.”

The results of the pilot program are expected to be released at the November Rock Stat meeting.

To expand the program and devote more firefighters and nurses to the program would likely be an expense in the short-term. However, if you consider the costs involved each time an ambulance and fire truck responds to a medical call, the program has the potential to produce huge savings to the patient and the city in the long run.

“It’s not just about dollars for us,” Knott said. “We look at the care of patients. That’s really where our concerns are.”

Heather Schafer, National Volunteer Fire Council chief executive officer, said the volunteer fire departments are experiencing the same trend of fewer fires and responding to an 80 percent EMS call load. In many cases, they are doing so with fewer resources than full-time fire departments.

“A lot of departments are asking their firefighters to be crossed trained, and funding is definitely a challenge,” she said. “When you look at the training, the equipment and the cost of the apparatus involved, that’s a lot of chicken dinners.”

Cherry Valley Fire Protection District Chief Craig Wilt said his department has 15 full-time firefighters and 30 paid-on-call firefighters. He said the EMS calls account for 75 percent to 80 percent of the department’s call volume.

“As the Baby Boomer population continues to age the number of EMS calls will only go up.”

While OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center provides free paramedic training, Wilt said certification can be a two-year process, which means when firefighters are in training, other firefighters are paid overtime to maintain an adequate staffing level.

One way to cut down on that expense, Wilt said, “All new full-time hires have to already be a paramedic at the time of hire.”