Corewell Health and the Grand Rapids Fire Department will launch a six-month pilot in January embedding a community health worker with EMS responses to redirect low-acuity 911 calls

By Ehren Wynder
mlive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Corewell Health is partnering with the Grand Rapids Fire Department on a six-month pilot that will integrate a full-time community health worker into emergency response teams.

The pilot, which begins in January, aims to reduce preventable emergency department visits and redirect 911 calls to the appropriate level of care by connecting people in need to social supports and other essential resources.

| MORE: Community paramedicine: Where does the fire service fit in?

“Our goal is to meet you right where your needs are, and we do this by connecting you with other resources in the community so you’re able to fend for yourself,” said William Burress, a community health worker with Corewell Health who is participating in the pilot. “I’ve come to the realization throughout the years that no one cares about how much you know until they know how much you care.”

GRFD responds to more than 17,000 medically related calls each year, but many of those calls are rooted in social challenges rather than medical emergencies.

“Many times people don’t need a fire truck or an ambulance,” Grand Rapids Fire Chief Brad Brown said. “They need access to prescriptions or food, they need help getting to a doctor’s appointment, etc. But the only resource they have is to call 911.”

This is the first-ever partnership between a fire department and a health system in Michigan, although there are similar programs elsewhere in the U.S., Brown said.

“We have to partner in this way if we’re going to really solve some of the root and social needs that community members are experiencing,” said Kaley Petersen, senior director of Healthier Communities West, Corewell Health.

At the end of the six-month pilot, GRFD will evaluate the success of the program based on community feedback and the level of reduction in repeat 911 calls, Brown said.

“We’re talking about a very small caseload and saving hundreds to maybe a few thousand calls a year at most, but these are the types of calls that burn our crews out, take up ER beds, ambulance time, and frankly these patients aren’t getting the help they need,” he said.

Corewell Health hopes to see a reduction in emergency department utilization and improve overall access to care, said Lee Moyer, director of clinical-community interventions at Healthier Communities West, Corewell Health.

“If we can help find resources for food insecurity or any additional needs, that will be an essential goal for us throughout this pilot,” he said.

The pilot program will come at no additional cost to GRFD. The department has allocated an existing EMS captain, plus vehicles and equipment, from a different program, Brown said.

Corewell Health, meanwhile, is investing in its own skilled staff and plans to grow the program based on the results of the six-month pilot, Petersen said.

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