Mountain Paramedic Makes House Calls
572 views · Published 28 June 2014 · 2:33 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: WLOS News 13 · 2014 · News & Politics
A first responder is on the job full-time in McDowell County, going door to door and making house calls. It's part of the Community Care Paramedic Program, which is aimed at making the local medical system more efficient and improving patient outcomes. In the first six months that Lieutenant Chad Robinson started stopping by the homes of about 70 area patients, 127 fewer calls came into the 911 Communications Center. In that same period savings totaled about $64,000, according to McDowell County EMS. Before the program was launched one year ago and officials say that some area residents on Medicaid, Medicare or without a family physician were calling 911 for emergency assistance twenty to thirty times a year. But now McDowell EMS has zeroed in on many of the folks that were being transported often - and sending Robinson out to work with them on preventative care methods and help them navigate the medical system. "You really have to stop and ask yourself why weren't we doing this ten years ago," said EMS Director William Kehler. The program is being financed through a $326,161 grant from Healthy Places North Carolina, which is an initiative of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. _______________ Follow WLOS on social media: WLOS ABC 13 News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/News13/ WLOS ABC 13 News on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WLOS_13 WLOS ABC 13 News on Instagram: https://instagram.com/wlos_13 Subscribe to WLOS on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ABC13Channel/?sub_confirmation=1 Listen to AnchorMOMS, the Podcast: https://wlos.com/news/anchormoms/anchormoms-the-podcast Watch more top local news stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk8Ge6UXHJs&list=PLkVbaoT-aYbIvnEpR0Ct5QQQqYaORUSUH For all of the day’s top local and national news, visit http://www.wlos.com Watch our live newscasts and other live video at https://wlos.com/watch Have a news tip? Send it directly to us: Email us: [email protected] Call the Newsroom: 828.684.1340 WLOS ABC 13 News serves the Asheville, NC area and the rest of western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. We keep our audience informed through local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of community events, sports and entertainment programming since 1954.
