City of Lakewood Announces Neighborhood Paramedic Program

New program introduces proactive health and wellness initiative designed to prevent illness and injuries to vulnerable populations, reduce need for emergency hospital visits

The City of Lakewood announced today that it will begin implementing a new Neighborhood Paramedic program in August to address key health and safety needs across the community. The field of neighborhood or community paramedics is a growing one across the U.S., designed to address health needs in a flexible way that focus on proactive, preventative approaches to healthcare.

“The Neighborhood Paramedic Program fills a serious gap in Lakewood’s health and wellness environment, with a proactive focus on preventing injuries and addressing medical issues before they elevate to the need for a hospital or emergency room visit,” said Mayor Meghan F. George. “The City of Lakewood sees this as a wise investment that will have immediate and long-term benefits for some of our most vulnerable populations, including seniors and lower income individuals and families. It is also expected to reduce overall costs for the City by limiting our safety forces need to respond to immediate calls for help by preventing injuries and emergencies.”

An initial focus of the program will be the implementation of a fall prevention program for senior citizens that uses EMS home visits to prevent trip-and-fall situations within residences. In 2021 alone, Lakewood EMS responded to more than 650 calls for senior citizens experiencing injury from a fall, with more than half of those being serious enough to require transport to a hospital or emergency room. Lakewood has taken its approach from the national CDC’s STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries) protocol, employing a screen, assess, and intervene approach.

The Neighborhood Paramedic Program has also received support from the Healthy Lakewood Foundation, which provided a $70,000 grant to help with startup costs for the program such as equipment. Paired with the Lakewood Fire Department’s recently renewed car seat safety program, the Neighborhood Paramedic Program is another example of the City’s focus on preventative efforts and care.

“HLF seeks to address the systems that impact the health of our community,” said Kate Ingersoll, Executive Director of the Healthy Lakewood Foundation. “Through this program, we are focusing on the conditions that cause falls for older adults. We believe this will ease emergency department admissions and simultaneously increase the health and safety of our older adult residents.”

In addition to the residential fall prevention initiative, other areas of work that are being considered for the Neighborhood Paramedic Program include: blood pressure / glucose screenings; safety checks for expectant mothers / new parents; in-home / outreach vaccinations; emergency preparedness education; and others. Final determination of additional focus areas will be made once the current Community Health Needs Assessment is complete, and the data gathered through that study can help inform priorities.

“Our entire safety team at City Hall feel strongly that we can continue to implement low-cost, high impact preventative measures through our personnel that will keep our residents healthy and safe,” said Mayor George. “The Neighborhood Paramedic Program is another great example of how we can put this approach into action. We are grateful to the Healthy Lakewood Foundation for seeing the value in this program and providing initial dollars to help us launch the work.”

“The Neighborhood Paramedic model has been proven to have impressive impact in other communities, and we have taken insights from others and tailored our program to fit Lakewood’s unique needs,” said Lakewood Fire Chief Tim Dunphy. “We are all excited to launch this program and believe it will make a major difference in helping with preventative care.”