AUSTIN, Texas -- By adopting the new budget this week, the Austin City Council is funding a number of initiatives, including the highly-praised expansion of the community health paramedic program.
- Budget to allow for hiring of 6 community health paramedics and 1 captain
- Program has been shown to reduce 911 calls
- Goal is to help people manage medical system
At budget hearings, local activists and union leaders argued how the long-time Austin-Travis County EMS program helped reduce the reliance on the emergency system, by addressing the underlying needs of the most vulnerable in the community. Many of the people the community health paramedics reach out to are living without a home or are lacking access to primary health care.
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The fiscal year 2019 to 2020 budget, which starts October 1, dedicates $790,000 to hiring six new community health paramedics and one captain.
Clinical specialist Arista Blouin, a 12-year veteran of the department, has been a community health paramedic for the past four years. In recent months, she has been stationed at Community First! Village, a program of the nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes that provides housing to nearly 180 people who were chronically homeless.
“These people are housed, then that's a great new step for them, but that's just step one, you know. You have to bring all the other sources and resources to them so they can live successfully. The biggest thing is just navigating the medical system and learning a new way of managing their problems,” Blouin said. “My goal is to get to them before their program becomes a crisis and so it doesn’t turn into a 911 call.”
Blouin has been checking in on one neighbor, Elias Espinoza, who has been dealing with the physical and emotional pain of getting hit by a bus. As part of helping Espinoza connect with resources, Blouin is educating him about keeping his blood pressure under control. They are now piloting this new remote monitoring system, so whenever Espinoza checks his vitals, an alert gets sent to Blouin wherever she is. Then, Blouin can decide how to respond appropriately.
“It makes me feel really more secure. It makes me feel like if something was to go wrong, I'm not going to be all alone,” Espinoza said. “If she hadn’t been there checking on me, if my blood pressure was high or low, if I had fainting spells or anything, there’s no telling what could have happened. But because of people of her, I’m still able to sit here.”
During the four months Blouin has been based at the community, EMS officials said there has been a 50 percent reduction in 911 calls there.
“It’s tackling the root of the problem,” Blouin said. “I like it because I get to dig in and see what's going on with these people and how I can make their lives better.”
“I’m still going through the PTSD, still trying to get over things, but on the other hand, I see a very bright future for myself,” Espinoza said.