By EMS1 Staff
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — A community paramedicine pilot project program in Ventura County is aiming to help those in hospice care.
Simi Valley Acorn reported that the program allows specially trained paramedics to respond, medically evaluate and comfort the patient until a hospice nurse can take over.
“The idea is to try to manage what’s going on with them at home rather that in a hospital setting,” Adriane Stefansen, a former Ventura County Fire Department paramedic, said. “When they sign up for hospice, that’s what they’re looking for, to live the last days of their life at home, surrounded by their family. We refer to it as ‘filling the gap’ between when the 911 call is placed and when hospice can actually arrive.”
The project is also using local paramedics to fill gaps in the treatment of tuberculosis patients.
“With this new concept, it’s really all about what a paramedic can do in the community that doesn’t have to do with just responding to a 911 call,” Stefansen said.
The project is being tested in Ventura and 11 other counties in California. So far, 14 community paramedics from AMR Gold Coast Ambulance Service in Oxnard and Life Line Medical Transport in Ventura have been trained.