EMS World Magazine is the most authoritative source in the world for clinical and educational material designed to improve the delivery of prehospital emergency medical care.
Issue link: https://emsworld.epubxp.com/i/658705
54 APRIL 2016 | EMSWORLD.com S askatoon, Saskatchewan, and Seminole County, FL, have both developed mobile health outreach programs to improve access to primary medical care. There are some differences, but many of the services are the same, and so is the goal of each program: to enhance the healthcare available to isolated residents. The Saskatoon "Health Bus" and the Seminole County mobile health unit both take healthcare providers out into their communities to provide primary care to people who are face barriers to care geographically, financially, culturally and socially. The idea for the Saskatoon Health Bus began in 2007 after two local ambulance company representatives saw a successful "mobile community medicine" program in the U.K. that used nurse practitioners and paramedics. After the concept was introduced to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, the Health Bus began operation in 2008 as a partnership between community health, primary healthcare and emergency medical services. The Health Bus was created to support many dif- ferent populations that traditionally had troubles accessing services: First Nations, Métis, children, the elderly, immigrants, refugees, people with chronic diseases and those with no primary care physician. Primary care is available for anything from sniffles to minor emergencies. Referrals can be made for further care. As proof of the concept, in its first few years of operation, patients seen were 48% aboriginal, 25% under 16, and 9% newcomers to the area. The Health Bus is unique among other mobile healthcare programs in Canada because it pairs a paramedic and a nurse practitioner. Both can assess and treat patients, while the nurse practitioner can also diagnose common illnesses, prescribe certain medications, order lab tests and refer people to specialists. This is also a model that's growing in the U.S. in places like Mesa, AZ (see EMSWorld. com/12167512), and Anaheim, CA (EMSWorld. com/12101527). Mobile health buses are bringing services to those most in need By Ed Mund