photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners met for a business meeting on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.

A program that helps frequent 911 callers connect to non-emergency services hasn’t gathered much data yet, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been making a difference, county leaders heard on Wednesday.

At the Douglas County Commission’s meeting on Wednesday, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical gave commissioners an update on the Mobile Integrated Health program, in which a two-person team reaches out to people who frequently call 911 about non-emergency issues. The team’s members, Courtney Simanowitz and Kim Bahr, conduct follow-ups and provide non-emergency services — including chronic disease management, wound care, and resource navigation — at no cost.

Giving the update were Simanowitz and Barr, as well as former LDCFM division chief Kevin Joles, who recently left the department for a job elsewhere but was heavily involved in the startup of the program. They highlighted several success stories since the program launched last winter, including an individual who made 24 calls to 911 for panic attacks in four months, but who has not called 911 again after five visits from the team and educational resources.

Another success story was one of many callers who had fallen or otherwise needed help getting up — a category that accounted for 15% of LDCFM’s calls for service in 2023. This person had called 911 14 times for help getting out of bed, and the team helped them get a new bed frame that allowed them to get up more easily.

The commissioners had some questions about the program, however, including the ways in which it identifies people to follow up with.

Currently, the program operates on a referral basis, where first responders who think certain callers could benefit from resources and education can refer them to the Mobile Integrated Health team. But Commissioner Shannon Reid asked whether the program had been getting referrals from first responders beyond LDCFM, such as law enforcement.

Joles said there hadn’t been any referrals from other agencies. He said it might be because of a lack of community awareness about the program, but it also might come down to technology. LDCFM provided a QR code to all of its partners for forwarding referrals to the team, but many may not be using it because they do not have the required technology in their vehicles, he said.

Commissioner Karen Willey also wanted to know how long it takes the team to respond once a referral is made. Simanowitz said that when the team is caught up on its referrals, it typically can respond to a new referral on the same day that it comes in. However, she acknowledged that there have been delays recently.

“Right now we are a little behind,” Simanowitz said. She said that when there’s a backlog, they have to prioritize certain cases over others: “So we look at how many times they’ve been calling, because the higher calling shows us there’s a more immediate need.”

One thing all of the commissioners agreed on was that they wanted more data on the program.

Willey said it would be important to gather data on the number of calls the program responds to, and Commissioner Patrick Kelly wondered whether there was an estimate of the resources it was saving Douglas County. He asked Joles how much data had been collected since the program launched.

Joles said there hadn’t been much data collected yet, because it can be time-consuming to gather it. But he said it’s evident that a difference has been made.

“I believe (we will need) at least 12 to 18 months before we can actually measure it,” Joles said. ” … I really believe this program needs a little bit of time.”

Despite the lack of data, the commissioners agreed that the program had the potential to respond to many situations in a much more efficient way than LDCFM had been doing before.

“I’m wanting to make sure we’re clear that sometimes there’s a narrative out there that we are creating services for certain members of our population who are more vulnerable,” Kelly said. “(But) we were providing these services already in a much more expensive way.”

No action was taken on the presentation, which was intended solely for informational purposes.

In other business Wednesday, commissioners approved a proposed replacement of a bridge on North 700 Road, or Route 460, over Captain Creek in Palmyra Township, along with a contract for engineering services with Finney & Turnipseed LLC, for a total cost not to exceed $75,550.10.