By Kesa Copps
On July 4th, Powder River First Responders announced a Community Integrated Healthcare Pilot Project. This pilot project is one of five in the State of Montana. The PR First Responders are the only volunteer based service to be chosen for this project, and we are also the only location that does not have a local hospital.
This program does not take the place of the clinic, ambulance, doctor visits, or any other healthcare the person has now, but helps to fill in holes which may occur in the healthcare system. It is not a home health care system, but we do go to the home to help do safety checks, healthy lifestyle support, medication verifications, post-healthcare stay support, help with explanations of healthcare issues and many other support functions. We advocate for the patient to help make things easier and better for the individual.
In our part of Montana, one of the hardest parts about being rural is access to healthcare. Living here has many of the greatest perks, but the few disadvantages we have are pretty big. Distance, weather and unavailability of medical specialists make it hard for us when we are sick or injured. We are also a community that is aging and that doubles the difficulty when seeking medical support.
Community Integrated Healthcare, or a common name of Community Paramedicine, has been around in other places for about 10-12 years. The last Montana state legislature passed a bill to create this service in Montana. The state has mandated that EMTs, Advanced EMTs and Paramedics go through a very extensive training and apprenticeship to provide this service. College classes and clinical experience are part of the training.
As this is a pilot project, there will be some small changes in the way things work going forward but we have a basic plan to bring this program to life. The current plan is to offer the program through referrals from the Powder River Medical Clinic. We will then make an appointment with the individual and meet with them for approximately an hour. After doing the prerequisite paperwork to enroll them, we want to spend some time visiting with them to find out what they need from us. Plans and necessary appointments will be made and then we will work with the Medical Provider to form a care plan. We will continue to work with and support the patient until the plan goals are met.
This project has been proven to work in many other communities in the US. We need to prove this program in Montana over the next two years so that we can continue to serve our residents. During that time, we will prove to the insurance companies that we can be effective and save them money. With this proof, we hope to get enough money from insurance reimbursements to make this program self-sustaining, keeping the individual costs extremely low (if any). We have been partially funded by the State of Montana, but we need some assistance in getting the project to fruition. The SCDC (the Powder River County Endowment Fund) has graciously offered to match up to $8000 to help make this project viable. We need things like a monitor, a vehicle and some other small items. Any donations can be set up as tax deductible.
We are excited about this pilot project and are anxiously working through classes so that we can start implementing this healthcare opportunity. We feel that this service will have a huge impact on the well being of Powder River County and its residents.
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