If we ever hope to provide emergency medical services to 2000 square miles of rural Arizona, we need to think out of the box.
The Department of Health's Bureau of Emergency Medical Services has a new program called Community Paramedicine. It's where EMS systems are allowed to make the community paramedicine program their own, to tailor the community paramedicine program to community needs.
Community paramedic's could do more primary care, like checking on people in their home who recently had surgery. Work with KMRC to catch problems before they become serious, and an ambulance ride is necessary.
Currently many people won't call the LMRFD nonprofit ambulance if they're unsure they really need to go to the hospital. They fear if the ambulance paramedics do so much as assess you, or take your blood pressure they charge you $1350.
I have never worked where fire paramedics wouldn't come out and check you out for free. Even when I worked for private a ambulance, we didn't charge you if we didn't transport you. It was always patients first, we felt it was our duty to check on patients, and if they don't want to go, they sign AMA against medical advise, and we left.
We may have firefighters who are paramedics, but we don't have firefighter paramedics.
When they get in the fire truck, they're only a firefighter. When they get in the nonprofit ambulance, they're an EMT or paramedic.
We need to separate the fire service from the nonprofit ambulance. The firefighter paramedics need to respond with a paramedic rescue truck inside the 144 sm fire district, and volunteer EMT's and paramedic's should run the nonprofit ambulance, leaving firefighter paramedics to protect the fire district..
The only way to cover 2000 sm's is with the help of volunteer EMT's. They could respond from home to do a rapid patient assessment, then if serious call for an air ship, and cancel the ambulance keeping it in service..
If you pay your taxes to the fire district, who do you think should be held accountable, if the firefighters are miles away responding outside the fire district, and your home burns down?
The LMRFD did, at one time, run repeated non-emergency calls to people's homes for no charge. It tore up ambulances and took personnel away from true emergency calls. It became necessary to limit non-charged home calls to 1 per person per year to cut down on the abuse. I've never lived anywhere that I expected an ambulance to show up for less than a life and death emergency.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is lay people don't know what a life and death emergency is, paramedics do. That's why we need volunteers to do patient assessments without running the ambulance.
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DeleteIt would be good to research the Community Paramedicine option. Perhaps you would look into it for the LMRFD and report your findings. We are still running on reduced staffing....that includes administrative. Please also do a survey of qualified Paramedics willing to volunteer in our area. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYoung people in Dolan have nothing to do, no jobs, nothing. Why not train some young EMT's (same cost as one false alarm) so they can volunteer in Dolan. There were 97 EMT jobs in Vegas last I looked.
DeleteThey could have a career, work in Vegas, volunteer in Dolan. Work up to paramedic, then in 2 semesters they're an RN making $50 an hour.
We help kids, get paramedics too.
As far as what paramedic would want to move to Dolan. Read the new post.
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DeleteIt would be good to research the Community Paramedicine option. Perhaps you would look into it for the LMRFD and report your findings. We are still running on reduced staffing....that includes administrative. Please also do a survey of qualified Paramedics willing to volunteer in our area. Thank you.
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