Going to the doctors' office can be a daunting and difficult task for some patients. That’s why Upstate Family Health Center and Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps are continuing a partnership bringing health care to patients in the comfort of their own home.

Dr. Joseph DiMaria is a physician and the Chief Medical Officer at Upstate Family Health Center. He sees patients both in-person and virtually, an option made possible by Upstate Health at Home.

“I do one or two a week. I know each other provider does a couple of week, so probably about 10 to 15, maybe a week. I'm going to say,” DiMaria said.

Upstate Health at Home involves a partnership between Upstate Family Health Center and Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps. What happens is UFHC patients can call UFHC and ask for an at-home visit.

Then the ambulance corps sends paramedics to the location to provide a connection to a doctor and offer care.

“It's fantastic because out of the office, at least we can get vitals. So you can get a temperature, you can get a pulse, you can get an EKG if you wanted a blood pressure, all these things, the oxygen saturation. And these are done by paramedics. So, you know, they're you know, they're done correctly," said DiMaria.

If necessary, the paramedics can also draw blood.

It’s an option greatly appreciated and supported by Steve Gonyea, a parent, foster parent and an advocate for many groups of people including those with disabilities.

“I have an autistic son who's an adult now. I wish that we had this program back then, and that's why I'm such a big proponent of this. And whatever I can do to help organize or help make this happen. We'd like to be there to help," Gonyea said.

Gonyea said going to the doctor or to the hospital can be upsetting for some patients.

“Having done this for so long, we've seen this many, many times where these kids are traumatized by the waiting room and not knowing what's going on," he said.

Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance’s EMS Chief Thomas Meyers said it’s a plus for folks in the medical field, too, saving time and resources.

“When we receive a call from Upstate, we don't send an ambulance out. We send one of these out. We have three of these vehicles and they're called, we call them 'Fly Cars.' It’s a medically equipped vehicle. It's not an ambulance. It carries pretty much everything that an ambulance carries, with the exception of a stretcher," Meyers said.

“E.R. visits are very, very expensive. So if we can kind of curb that and save that, reserve that pool for kind of the sicker people or the people urgent with strokes or heart attacks or whatever, that's going to save on the whole system and everyone will benefit," said DiMaria.

The program is not an emergency service.

If a paramedic and a provider at UFHC believe a higher level of care is needed, an ambulance will be called for transport.