Title
COMMUNITY PARAMEDICINE PILOT PROGRAM/PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
COUNCIL INITIATIVE ADDRESSED:
Enahnce Public Safety & Emergency Response
CITY ATTORNEY REVIEW: N/A
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
A. Over the last few years, the fire chief has met with a number of stakeholders regarding pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service care programs. As a result of some of those discussions, Kaiser Permanente approached the Fire Chief and proposed using fire department resources to provide post-discharge checkups of Kaiser patients who would benefit from in-home visits.
Between the dates of October 16 and December 31, 2017, Kaiser will work with Longview Fire staff in scheduling in-home visits of identified patients. During this time, Longview Fire staff will assemble results of the benefits, challenges and opportunities of this program. Throughout the pilot and immediately following, Kaiser and Longview Fire staff will assess and evaluate the effects for our community and the potential impacts in decreasing emergency medical responses, as emergent events through 911 and the current service delivery model.
Budget impacts are expected to be minimal.
B. Self-contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) is a crucial component of a firefighter’s personal protective equipment ensemble. Three years ago, as our existing SCBA became more and more maintenance-intensive, we had a few occasions when the equipment failed on the fire ground. Fortunately, no firefighters were injured due to that failure. Simultaneously, having recognized the safety issues with our existing SCBA, staff applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) to replace this equipment. During one cycle the Longview Fire Department took the lead on a regional grant and most recently we applied for a local grant request to replace this crucial safety equipment.
Two years ago, while we were applying for grant funding to replace SCBA, we became aware of an opportunit...
Click here for full text