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Paramedics helping people stay out of hospital

A Simcoe County paramedic is helping an Orillia woman stay out – rather than get into – her local hospital’s emergency department
Lynda and Kieran
Paramedic Kieran O'Halloran works with Lynda Bowden. Photo courtesy of County of Simcoe

A Simcoe County paramedic is helping an Orillia woman stay out – rather than get into – her local hospital’s emergency department.

Primary care paramedic Kieran O’Halloran upgraded his skills so he can take part in a Simcoe County Paramedic Services’ pilot project to help patients like Lynda Bowden manage their chronic health struggles that have previously landed them in hospital.

“I hope this program never ends. It’s a wonderful program,” said Bowden, 69, who suffers from COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disease that includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. When it flares up, patients struggle to breath, let alone walk or get on with their daily lives.

“It’s very stressful for people who have a hard time breathing. But this program is also for people diagnosed with heart disease and diabetes, whom their family doctor recommends for the pilot project.

Started in April as a way to make better use of paramedics stationed in Ramara Township – where call volumes aren’t high enough to justify a station but where the community needed a station for response time reasons – the pilot program enables specially trained paramedics to visit patients when they’re not on a 911 call.

In the first six months, the 57 patients enrolled have improved significantly due to the rapid response by paramedics, who can quickly access their family doctor for approval to begin treatment. A report detailing the program’s success is due in August.

But for Bowden, she doesn’t need to read a county report. She and her husband have experienced first-hand the incredible difference the paramedical intervention has made.

It meant she could start receiving the necessary antibiotic therapy immediately, rather than having to go to an emergency room as she struggled to breathe.

“I know when I’m getting ill because I start wheezing and feel full in the chest and have a hard time breathing. I know I need an antibiotic, because drug store remedies don’t work. It’s a lifetime thing,” she explained.

A few weeks after an intake assessment with the paramedic service, her COPD flared up.

“I got ill and my husband called the paramedics. Kieran came and looked after me. He listen to my breathing, took my blood pressure and got a hold of my family doctor on his cellphone,” she recalled, adding the paramedic had the required antibiotic on hand.

The doctor’s office, meanwhile, called a pharmacy to order more for Bowden, so she could continue the required treatment.

Bowden’s husband, Ray Bowden, agreed the program has helped his wife and reduce stress for both of them.

“Now I don’t need to worry about Lynda waiting in the hospital for four or five hours to see a doctor,” he said. “The stress is gone. It’s an amazing link with the doctor, whether the doctor is at home, in the office or on the golf course. Kieran can talk to him right away. This is that missing link we were looking for.”

O’Halloran said the program has enabled him not only to add a complementary skill set to his emergency response duties, but it has helped him make a difference in the daily lives of people coping with chronic conditions.

“The wonderful thing about this program is the relationships we build with our patients. We get to talk in-depth about what’s going on and we work with their family doctor. The doctors can rely on what we’re telling them,” he said.

“We’re really building great relationships in the community and providing the best care possible.”

Simcoe County Paramedic Services deputy chief Meredith Morrison said the community paramedicine home visit program makes sense on several levels: it enables the Washago station, which opened in January on a pilot project basis, to be more sustainable, as the paramedics stationed there – along with a rapid response unit vehicle ­– reduces response times as well as boosting services to patients who need the support.

“In the first three months, we shaved three to four minutes off response times. We know the paramedics are working hard and they’ll get to every 911 call in addition to the home visits.

“We know Kieran and his two counterparts in this area are making a difference.”