COUNTY CONTINUES ROLLOUT OF EXPANDED RURAL PARAMEDIC SERVICES

East County News Service

Source: County News Service

July 17, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors heard an update in late June on a  three-stage plan to implement new paramedic-based community health initiatives that aim to improve emergency medical services in rural areas.

The first phase started in 2021 and includes County Fire’s Community Health and Injury Prevention Program. County Fire, Emergency Medical Services and CAL FIRE are reaching hard-to-serve populations and reducing health disparities in our backcountry where many residents are older, lower income, and often speak a language other than English. Residents are offered training to increase survival rates during emergency medical incidents, since hands-only CPR and Stop the Bleed interventions can be critical before paramedics arrive, and it often takes longer for emergency responders to reach patients in rural areas than in urban neighborhoods.

Next up, in the Mountain Empire community, County Fire paramedics and nurses will soon work with patients recently discharged from Sharp Grossmont Hospital to provide in-home medical support, in coordination with their primary care physicians. This program is a partnership with the Grossmont Healthcare District and the County Health and Human Services Agency to better support vulnerable residents in our rural communities by reducing hospital readmissions.

The Community Paramedicine and Triage to Alternate Destination model is the second phase of the plan.  It will offer Emergency Medical Services agencies opportunities to better serve residents in the field with additional services.

Under the Community Paramedic model, specially trained paramedics may offer case management for frequent 911 users or public health collaboration for tuberculosis patients. The second phase also includes Triage to Alternate Destination.

In addition, under this new state plan, medically stable patients could be transported not to an emergency department, but instead go to a behavioral health facility or a sobering center.

The Board also received an update on emerging best practices to meet residents’ needs. Telehealth offers paramedics the ability to connect with patients in a virtual medical visit in the future. Paramedics may be able to assist a doctor providing direction virtually and perform physical assessments that match each patient with the most appropriate level of medical care. Plans to extend the services could soon include paramedics, nurse practitioners or physician assistants helping with minor wound care, prescriptions and possibly vaccinations.

All three phases of these health-focused plans can provide much-needed help for rural residents, who are often far from traditional medical services.