Grant: Project Grant

Frequent calls to emergency services (911) for preventable reasons are a burden on the healthcare system and its limited resources. These calls are often for "Lift Assist" (older adults who fall and cannot pick themselves up) or for health issues that have not been properly managed by the family physician. In these cases, simple interventions that reduce the risk of falls and avoid complications due to chronic disease (e.g. diabetes) and poor mental health may have a significant impact on how these individuals use healthcare resources. Community paramedicine (CP) is a new role for paramedics in Canada. CP@home is a CP intervention where community paramedics visit the homes of frequent 911 callers to conduct assessments for mobility, pain, chronic disease, and mental health. Based on their findings, they provide health education and refer the individual to available community services (e.g. fall prevention programs). A report is also sent to their family doctor to keep them informed. The paramedics follow-up with the individual on two more occasions to make sure the intervention is working and to make adjustments if needed. The proposed research study aims to evaluate the CP@home intervention and determine if it is effective in reducing the number of 911 calls from these frequent users, as well as improving their health and quality of life.