Paramedics Realized This One Thing About 911 Calls, Drastically Reduced Them With Genius Program

By Heather Callaghan

When you want to find answers look for a pattern – always look for a pattern.

For instance, the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule is a theory that 80 percent of the output from a given situation or system is determined by 20 percent of the input. Example: 80% of results come from 20% of the employees. Or, 80% of sales come from the same 20% of customers.

This pattern is great for companies and startups – but also great for scanning a pattern associated with a percentage of calls that pose a problem. 

In this case, it wasn’t 80% or 20%, but a sizeable 7% of 911 calls in Milwaukee that came from the same 100 people each year.

GNN reports:

This impressive program in Wisconsin is having a huge impact on chronically ill citizens and the first responders who used to have to answer their calls.

In 2015, the Milwaukee Fire Department was surprised to find out that 7% of the roughly 63,000 calls for emergency medical services that were received during the previous year — which is about 4,300 calls — came from the same 100 people.

That’s because the patients who had a consistent track record of dialing 911 were all people who suffered from chronic illnesses, such as asthma, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

What if there were a way to prevent the emergency in the first place?

Milwaukee Fire Department Assistance Chief Daniel Berendt told WITI in 2015:

They call 911, and we go back and go through the same process again — taking them to the ER. It’s very expensive, very time-consuming.

But chronically ill people need help, so the fire department devised a plan. Meet the Community Paramedic Mobile Integrated Healthcare Program: “an initiative that employs a separate group of specially-trained paramedics to take care of chronically ill patients before they ever have to dial 911.”

GNN writes:

34 paramedics assess the health and homes of the patients so that they can use preventative care and guidance to prevent the illnesses from resulting in a trip to the emergency room. Over 300 patients have participated in the program free of charge since its launch in 2015.

Did the program for chronically ill people work?

• The trial period resulted in a 26% decline in emergency calls from chronically ill patients in 2015
• By 2016, the 911 calls from chronically ill people dropped by 56%
• 2017 saw a whopping 62% drop in 911 calls from chronically ill patients

Capt. Michael Wright, the department coordinator who spearheaded the project, said:

We’re serving the most at-risk citizens in a proactive way – I see it first-hand. People are getting better.

We wish to applaud the paramedics for initiating a solution that doesn’t let the community fall through the cracks of the system. They solved the problem of call burden and didn’t leave anyone out.

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This article (Paramedics Realized This One Thing About 911 Calls, Drastically Reduced Them With Genius Program) was created by and appeared first at Natural Blaze. It can be reshared with attribution but MUST include link to homepage, bio, intact links and this message. 

Heather Callaghan is an independent researcher, writer, speaker and food freedom activist. She is the Editor and co-founder of NaturalBlaze as well as a certified Self-Referencing IITM Practitioner.