By Ken Carlson
The Modesto Bee
MERCED COUNTY, Calif. — A 911 Nurse Navigation program, which was rolled out in Stanislaus County in June, was activated in Merced County on Wednesday.
The program aims to more efficiently deal with a growing number of 911 calls that are not life-threatening emergencies but are calls that still may require attention, local agencies said.
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American Medical Response and the Merced County Emergency Medical Services Agency are partners in the program.
With the navigation system, eligible 911 callers are connected to nurses who ask questions and determine if it’s appropriate to direct the person to an urgent care clinic, healthcare provider, telehealth service or care at home.
The nurse’s suggestions are an option for the caller. If the caller chooses an ambulance, or a nurse determines a higher level of care is needed, emergency responders can be dispatched, an AMR news release said.
“By connecting patients to more appropriate care options, the program helps keep ambulances available for life-threatening and critical emergencies,” the news release said.
Since the program began five months ago, more than 1,200 callers in Stanislaus County had medical issues that qualified them for speaking with a nurse, according to AMR. Several hundred callers received care without going to a hospital emergency department.
Stanislaus and Merced counties share the same problems with access to healthcare as other communities in the San Joaquin Valley. In Merced County, one in four adults have reported barriers in accessing care when they needed to see a healthcare provider.
“We’ve already seen firsthand in Stanislaus County how Nurse Navigation can help residents get timely healthcare guidance while ensuring emergency resources remain available for the most serious situations,” AMR Regional Director Daniel Iniquez said in the news release. “Expanding the program into Merced County allows us to bring that same patient-centered approach to another community facing increasing demands on both healthcare and emergency response systems.”
Stanislaus officials approved the program because of the current demand on emergency resources and AMR’s ability to show results from other jurisdictions. The county EMS Agency is responsible for monitoring and oversight.
The director of the Stanislaus EMS Agency has said it will conduct oversight of the Nurse Navigation system and perform monthly, quarterly and annual reviews.
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