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May 10, 2008 7:34 am US/Eastern
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Operation Care To Cut Repeat 911 Calls
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
A new program in Baltimore could get residents to stop calling 911 repeatedly.
The fire department says they're going out on too many minor medical calls, situations where a doctor or aspirin is the answer.
Kelly McPherson reports there's a new outreach called Operation Care that's being used to help curb the trend.
Thousands of calls for help come into the Baltimore Communication Center each year, but a group of callers is reaching out too often.
A total of 91 people have called at least 15 times in one year. Some called 60. One person dialed 911 107 times.
Even if it's not an emergency, the fire department has to go.
"Leg, their arm, maybe they bumped their head. We don't know that they aren't necessarily experiencing something underlying that needs to be treated by an emergency physician," said Chief Kevin Cartwright.
The Communication Center could have roughly 2,000 fewer calls in a year if the repeat callers relied on a doctor instead of an ambulance.
That's where the Health Department is stepping in. Starting Monday, caseworkers will go talk to the repeat 911 callers.
"Maybe the patient says, I don't have a doctor; hey can find one. Or, I don't know how to get in touch with my doctor; they can make that connection," said Dr. Josh Sharfstein with the Health Department.
That will hopefully avoid tying up ambulances and dispatchers' time when true emergencies exist.
"If we can bridge that, we can really have a win-win. Less stress and congestion on the emergency medical care system and at the same time better care for the individuals," said Sharfstein.
There's no one reason why people are over-using emergency services. Half of them do not have health insurance, some don't speak English very well and some are homeless.
Each case will get attention, so ambulances are used a little more efficiently.
Another downfall to excessive calls is money. Many repeat callers are unable to pay the several hundred dollars it costs to have ambulance service. That's money the department loses entirely.
This program will run for 90 days. If there is an effect on the number of repeat calls, the commissioner will ask to extend the program to more people.
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