As an organization that is purpose-built to serve the community, it is a humbling experience when others give back to us to help further our vision of a safer, healthier, stronger Renton community. That is exactly what the Rotary Club of Renton did last month. Renton RFA received two donations from the Renton Rotary Club, totaling over $40,000, for our FD CARES Program. Lori Church-Pursley, President of the Renton Rotary Club, explained that after the dissolution of the RotoCare program, the club was left with funds that they wanted to donate to another charitable cause that would work in related way to provide medical care for Renton’s vulnerable populations. That is exactly what FD CARES is designed to help do.
The FDCARES program was created to address low acuity calls for service. A low-acuity call is one that is important, but not an emergency. A common example of a low-acuity call is a trip and fall incident where the patient is uninjured but needs help getting up. Using that example, under our old system, the patient would need to call 9-1-1 and our firefighters would respond in a fire engine or an aid car to lift them up and then return to service. When we started diving deep into this call data, we discovered that these patients were using the 9-1-1 system frequently because the underlying cause for their call was not being fully resolved in a short emergency visit. This meant numerous calls to 9-1-1 and numerous visit by our firefighters.
This impacts our community in a number of ways. First, the low-acuity patient is not receiving the best care possible to improve their quality of life. Second, our 9-1-1 dispatchers were fielding non-emergent calls for service and our firefighters were less able to focus on truly emergent incidents. Lastly, taking a large engine or aid unit, and their assigned staff, to this type of call rendered unnecessary wear and tear on our large fleet vehicles and is costly for taxpayers. FD CARES solves these issues and more.
The FD CARES program is staffed by a registered nurse and a social worker. Through research, we have found that this combination of staff provides the best outcome for patients. This team responds out of a smaller, specialized vehicle that is outfitted with the type of equipment most commonly needed in low-acuity incidents, such as lift equipment. Like our other first response teams, the FD CARES team can be dispatched through the 9-1-1 system, however, they also work through referrals and conduct follow-ups with low acuity patients. The FD CARES team has the ability to spend more time thoroughly working with low-acuity patients to evaluate their overall health and discover the underlying cause of their 9-1-1 call. They have the ability to continually work alongside the patient, on an on-going basis, to try and fully resolve the root cause of their call. They also follow up with patients to ensure that the care plan that was put in place continues to work long-term.
Low-acuity patients commonly include community members who are: elderly, disabled, cognitively impaired, struggle with mental health, or struggle with drug or alcohol addiction. The variety of patient needs is vast, as are the services, resources, and tools the FD CARES team uses to provide exemplary service to each patient. Those services can include things like providing the patient with medical equipment, like a walker or a wheelchair, to get around easier; installing grab bars in showers or on toilets to make their environment safer; or even connecting them with resources or programs to help with cleaning or assisted living needs. They meet their patients wherever they are in their experience and can even provide vulnerable community members with basic necessities like blankets, clothing, and food.
Providing vulnerable community members with the level of care and service they need and deserve is a costly endeavor. Specialized lift equipment ranges in cost from $350 – $750 per unit. Durable Medical Equipment (DME), such as wheelchairs, walkers, canes, toilet seat bars, grab bars, transfer chairs, etc. can range anywhere from $25 – $500 per item. Health and hygiene equipment, such as diapers, blankets, shoes, clothes, coats, etc. can range anywhere from $5 – $50 per item. FD CARES also tries their best to help with small barriers, such as transport to a shelter, meals, co-pays, emotional support toys for children, etc. which typically run $50 or less. With over 5,000 patient interactions in 2021, these costs add up fast.
The donation provided by the Renton Rotary Club will go a long way toward empowering the Renton RFA FD CARES Program to continue to help our most vulnerable community members. We are eternally grateful to Lori and the entire Rotary Club for this incredibly generous donation and their belief in the value provided by the FD CARES program to the Renton community.
If you want to support the FD CARES Program and its mission to help Renton’s most vulnerable populations, you can now do so through the Renton RFA FD CARES Fund, hosted by the Renton Community Foundation! Donations made to this fund are tax deductible and go directly toward helping the FD CARES team do what they do best – help those in the greatest need.
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