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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> He continued, What we have found is that the majority of these patients, maybe even as many as
<br /> eighty percent(80%)of them need social services more so than medical services. It's been a really
<br /> interesting journey for us working through this program, working with several different entities to
<br /> collect our data. In fact,the Office of Innovation, one(1) of the business analysts, Anna Kennedy,
<br /> is working with our department right now to provide all of the data associated with this program,
<br /> to hopefully be able to show all of the impact that we're having with this. Additionally, I can just
<br /> tell you that we've had several of these patients that use the EMS service as many as twenty(20)
<br /> to fifty(50) times in one(1) twelve (12) month period. Those have actually dropped off now that
<br /> they've been linked up with the services that they need in Indiana. The gentlemen you see on the
<br /> right-hand side, our community paramedic took that picture. With his permission, we're using it.
<br /> That gentlemen, he used to fall a lot in his bathtub, and the main thing he needed was a bar in his
<br /> bathtub. He quit calling 9-1-1 because our community paramedic got a plumbing agency, locally,
<br /> to come over and just donate one(1),and they installed it for him. Now,as you can see,he's happy
<br /> as a clam.
<br /> He went on, This is one (1) of those things that seems so simple, but we have found an absolute
<br /> need for it. The idea of this, of adding an additional FTE to the program, we feel like there's a lot
<br /> more that we can do with the program and more impact that we can have. We're really, really
<br /> excited about what this could eventually be.Additionally, I would also add that the state legislature
<br /> this year, they have actually passed legislation to make community paramedics, their services,
<br /> reimbursable through Medicaid via FSSA. The mechanism hasn't been completed yet,and I know
<br /> they're doing a summer study down there in Indy about how this is going to wind up, being
<br /> reimbursed, but we anticipate, hopefully, within the next year we will be starting to see
<br /> reimbursements with the idea that this hopefully becomes a sustainable program.
<br /> He continued, The Tucson Arizona Fire Department is who, we have Suzie Krill, she's our
<br /> community paramedic,we actually sent her out to Tucson to go ahead and shadow their community
<br /> paramedics for a week. She learned a ton. They have four (4), their city's about 400,000 people,
<br /> and they also have a social worker that works with their program to help provide those services.
<br /> We've been in touch with Tucson a lot throughout the year and through the pilot and everything.
<br /> It's been a great experience building this program out, and we hope that we receive full support
<br /> from Council. The Mayor's Office has already let us know that the Mayor is in full support. I'm
<br /> happy to answer any other questions associated with it.
<br /> Councilmember Tim Scott stated, Thank you for this. This is like my number one (1) top priority
<br /> for you guys. You guys do a great job. You and I talked about this, but how much mental health
<br /> training do the para medicine people have, but also your EMS people and your firefighters?
<br /> Because we know some of the mental health issues that are happening in our city.
<br /> Chief Cox replied, Right. I'm glad you asked that. With everybody's initial training on the
<br /> department, with your EMT program you receive a certain amount of mental health training. Not
<br /> just responding to mental health issues, but also discussing mental health issues that first
<br /> responders have, just based on their responses, PTSD issues, etc, substance abuse, all of those
<br /> things that occur in the emergency services. We also have developed a peer support team. They
<br /> receive training. This was about last year, and I think we have eight (8) individuals in our
<br /> department that are peer support providers that whenever there's a critical incident, they respond
<br /> to the individuals in the department that've been associated with the incident itself, to be able to
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT
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