Community Paramedicine Program
What is Community Paramedicine?
Though there are differences found in each individual program, a functional definition of a community paramedic from the Joint Committee on Rural Emergency Care (JCREC) is:
“…a state licensed EMS professional that has completed an appropriate educational program and has demonstrated competence in the provision of health education, monitoring, and services beyond the roles of traditional emergency care and transport and in conjunction with medical direction. The specific roles and services are determined by community health needs and in collaboration with public health and medical direction.”
Here at Tri-Hospital EMS, the goal of our new Community Paramedic Program is to assist the healthcare system by embracing an innovative, hands-on approach to public health. Many consider EMS pre-hospital care, but the shift of these new programs are to keep non-emergent patient safe and in their own home supporting our local physicians and hospitals by lowering hospital readmissions.
Community Paramedics generally focus on:
Integration with local public health agencies, home health agencies, health systems, and other providers
Providing and connecting patients to primary care services
Providing education and health promotion programs
Providing services not available elsewhere in the community or partnering with services that need more assistance to gain access to individuals in a community.