GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay Metro Fire Department and Brown County Public Health are teaming up to create a prevention-based, mobile integrated health system.
The idea is to connect people with the resources they need — in turn, limiting trips to the emergency room. This could be responding to repetitive falls in the home or struggles with substance abuse, as well as mental health.
With 33 reported falls a day in Brown County alone, captain and community paramedic Dan Chatham’s goal is preventative care.
“Our goal is to go in and assess the house, make sure there aren’t hazards that could increase their full potential. Make sure there’s things like grab handles, and look at where they are struggling the most,” says Chatham.
Chatham explains it is not as much treatment focused. Instead, it’s working through case management and thinking outside of the parameters they were taught as care providers.
The paramedic crew trained at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee through their nursing program.
Anna Nick., a public health officer with Brown County Public Health, says one thing they know for sure, is every dollar spent on prevention, saves money in the end.
“That benefits us all because that not only connects us with resources so if you yourself need a resource, but it also saves us as taxpayers because it is going to be less money to react then it is to prevent things from happening in the first place,” says Nick.
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