GREENSBORO, N.C. — Many of us know to call 911 when in trouble, but not every situation may be a life-or-death medical emergency. A new team in Guilford County is helping combat call volumes for non-emergency responses. 

Kalisha Powe is a social worker with the Guilford County Adult Resource Team, working in collaboration between Guilford County EMS, the Family Justice Center and the Department of Social Services. 

“We take referrals and we have clients and whatever the need might be, we meet them, and we help them where they are. It varies from housing with mental health services and just really like being an advocate for those who need services and may not be able to advocate for themselves to get things out in a community, different resources and such,” Powe said. 

Some callers dial 911 for assistance for tasks that do not require life-saving care such as lift assist or using the restroom. 

Prior to the creation of the program, over a one-month period there were 34 repeat patients calling 911, totaling over 440 calls in that time period. After being assisted by the Adult Resource Team, there were only four calls from the same pool of patients. 

For workers like Powe, who helped care for her uncle, she understands how dire these calls for help are from the community. 

“Everybody has a family. But that's not necessarily true. Everybody doesn't have a family or have somebody to advocate for them, to help them to get these basic services that a lot of us take for granted. When I can step in a role and just help somebody, I think about it like that's what I would want somebody to do for my mom or my dad or my grandparents,” Powe said. 

Kalisha Powe taking down an ART referral. (Spectrum News 1/Sydney McCoy)

Once a resident of Guilford County is referred to the team through services like emergency personnel, Powe or another member will begin working with the client to help figure out the best way to provide help and diminish their need to call 911 for non-emergencies. 

“We're trying to get them to a point where they'll be self sufficient to be able to navigate different systems and advocate for themselves. That's ultimately what the goal is, to give them the information and empower them to be able to do these things on their own,” Powe said. 

The North Carolina Department of Information Technology said in May 2023, there were 539,784 911 calls across the state. This year in May, there were over 100,000 more calls to 911 in the state. 

“When we're able to reduce the amount of responses to calls that don't need an ambulance, that saves us ambulances for the folks that are having real emergencies or have the medical need and the transport needs for the hospital, it also saves staff time on the back end when we're trying to help these folks connect to resources,” said Justin Hargett, the emergency services manager for Emergency Services in Guilford County. 

With Guilford County EMS’ average call time at 1 hour and 6 minutes, it allows the ART team to handle cases that take more time, averaging around six hours of administrative time. 

“It's really nice to be able to collaborate with other county departments to work together to serve our citizens. And to make sure that we're taking care of their needs, whatever they may be, whether it's medical or nonmedical,” Hargett said.