Jambi
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Community Paramedicine will send paramedics to visit frequent 911 callers to assess why they call so often
OTTAWA, Canada — An Ottawa paramedic sits in a 65-year-old schizophrenic man’s almost bare living room, trying to convince him to bathe.
The man, a Hungarian, is afraid to get into his tub and has too much pride to accept the help of a personal care worker.
In the past, he would have turned to the one place he knew he would find help. He’d call 911.
"He has hearing problems, language problems, mental illness," says paramedic Tracey Suprunchuk. "He’s really falling through the cracks, but when the medics go in there, we’re used to just emergencies — we only have so much time to deal with someone."
So the Ottawa Paramedic Service came up with a solution and have launched a $1.3-million, provincially funded pilot project aimed at reducing paramedic costs and easing the strain on the 911 system. If successful, the program will also reduce emergency room wait times and help connect patients with the social services they need, reducing their dependency on 911.
Of the nearly 117,000 calls to 911 that Ottawa paramedics handled last year, 2,500 came from just 176 frequent callers, vulnerable people, such as the Hungarian man, who call 911 for non-emergency services.
Read the rest here
I would also like to highlight the fact that this is happening in Canada.
OTTAWA, Canada — An Ottawa paramedic sits in a 65-year-old schizophrenic man’s almost bare living room, trying to convince him to bathe.
The man, a Hungarian, is afraid to get into his tub and has too much pride to accept the help of a personal care worker.
In the past, he would have turned to the one place he knew he would find help. He’d call 911.
"He has hearing problems, language problems, mental illness," says paramedic Tracey Suprunchuk. "He’s really falling through the cracks, but when the medics go in there, we’re used to just emergencies — we only have so much time to deal with someone."
So the Ottawa Paramedic Service came up with a solution and have launched a $1.3-million, provincially funded pilot project aimed at reducing paramedic costs and easing the strain on the 911 system. If successful, the program will also reduce emergency room wait times and help connect patients with the social services they need, reducing their dependency on 911.
Of the nearly 117,000 calls to 911 that Ottawa paramedics handled last year, 2,500 came from just 176 frequent callers, vulnerable people, such as the Hungarian man, who call 911 for non-emergency services.
Read the rest here
I would also like to highlight the fact that this is happening in Canada.
