Firefighters make house calls in San Luis
Program aims to improve residents’ health
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Buoyed by the success of a similar program in Somerton, firefighters in San Luis are making house calls.
They’re not coming to fight fires in this case. They’re there to check on the well-being of elderly or homebound residents, to make sure they’re taking their medications and to check for any hazards around the home.
The San Luis Fire Department has joined with Regional Center for Border Health to launch their Community Paramedicine Program, modeled after a project RCBH started two years ago with the Somerton Cocopah Fire Department for Somerton. The San Luis program began in late February, serving residents who are patients of the San Luis Walk In Clinic, a primary care provider that is a subsidiary of the Somerton-based RCBH.
“The result has been excellent,” said Amanda Aguirre, the Regional Center’s president and chief executive officer. “There are many patients who are participating, and we’re very grateful for the paramedics’ presence and their concern for the health of (San Luis Walk In Clinic) patients.”
In the program coordinated with RCBH health workers, fire department paramedics check patients’ blood pressure, blood-sugar levels and breathing, weigh them and make sure they are following prescribed treatment plans. Besides checking for hazards around the home, they look for any barriers to the patients’ mobility.
At first, a small number of clinic patients signed up for the program, but it is quickly gaining a wider following, Angel Ramirez, the assistant chief of the fire department, said.
“The program is good, it is making changes for the better,” he said. “I believe we are going to continue growing. Before, not many people knew about it, but now they are spreading the work and a lot of other people want us to help them too.
Ramirez said the program is also helping the fire department to forge closer ties with residents.
“A lot of people thing that if there are no fires, we don’t have anything to do, but in reality 85 percent of the calls we get are for medical emergencies.”
Aguirre said the Community Paramedicine Program in Somerton has served more than 200 patients in that city. In San Luis, she said, the program potentially could serve up to 1,000 patients of San Luis Walk In Clinic, who typically suffer from such conditions as high blood pressure or diabetes.
In 2017, the Somerton program was presented the the Arizona Rural Health Association’s Health Program of the Year award.
Apart from taking care of the immediate health needs of patients, Ramirez said, the program has the longerterm goal of reducing health care costs through early detection of health conditions that, if left unchecked, could lead to emergency room visits.