New program provides better health care for seniors
Posted Mar 16, 2011 03:11:58 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Health and Wellness Minister Maureen MacDonald joined paramedics to announce the new Extended Care Paramedic (ECP) program that offers bedside care for nursing home residents when medical issues arise, instead of sending them to the ER.
The ECP program offers seniors much of the same care they would receive in an emergency department, delivered by paramedics at their bedside.
It’s been in effect since February and has helped about 72% of patients who were able to be assessed and treated without leaving the nursing home.
MacDonald tells News 95.7 the program costs about $200,000, but adds the money was found within the EHS contract.
She says it’s part of a wider goal to help make health care better for everyone.
“This is very much part of implementing better care sooner to improve primary health care and to take pressure off emergency departments,” said MacDonald.
Fifteen nursing homes currently have access to the program, but MacDonald says if the program is successful it could expand.
“You have to be sure you have advanced paramedics trained in the districts in enough numbers to be able to provide these services,” said MacDonald.
Tammy Jeffers, Unit Administrator at Glades Lodge nursing home, says she’s used the ECP program several times, including when 85-year-old Gertrude Clarke fell out of bed and hit her head on her night table.
“Within the hour, the paramedic arrived, did an assessment and collaborated with the doctor and myself,” says Jeffers. “Within an hour and half she was stitched in her room, she didn’t have to leave, there was no worry to her family and not cost. Overall I have nothing but good things to say about the program.”
For her part, Gertrude says she’s happy she didn’t have to go to the ER.
“They were wonderful people,” says Clarke. “The paramedic was so good, he wouldn’t leave until my head stopped bleeding.”
