DEPARTMENT: San Antonio Fire Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Charles N. Hood
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
FY 2020 STRAC MIH Haven for Hope Donation Acceptance
SUMMARY:
This ordinance authorizes the acceptance and appropriation of a donation from the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC) in the amount up to $279,735.00, approves a program budget, and appropriates funds to be used by the Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) unit of the EMS division of the San Antonio Fire Department to help improve the health and daily activities of residents utilizing services at Haven for Hope and reduce admissions and/or readmissions to hospital Emergency Rooms.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC) was established to facilitate the development, implementation, and operation of a regional comprehensive trauma and emergency healthcare system based on accepted standards of care to decrease morbidity and mortality. Funds from STRAC are awarded to assist in improving the functionality of EMS agencies in the State of Texas. STRAC has received donation funding from Methodist Healthcare Ministries and other private hospital funding sources to help improve the health and daily activities of residents utilizing services at Haven for Hope and reduce admissions and/or readmissions to hospital Emergency Rooms throughout the city.
The MIH program will utilize a fully equipped and response readied small SUV that will be used by MIH medics to respond to Haven for Hope in a 911 intercept capacity. Additionally the Acute Care Station operates from 8pm until 12am where patients are triaged prior to them going to bed. Patients that are triaged in the evening receive priority appointments in the morning at the Centro Med Sarah E. Davidson Clinic. The Acute Care Station MIH Paramedics have seen 734 patients and have demonstrated an EMS transport reduction rate over 50% since the launch of the pilot program on July 1st, 2018 through December 31, 2018. With a renewal of this program it is projected that the Acute Care Station MIH Paramedics will see 1,200 patients from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019.
ISSUE:
This ordinance authorizes the acceptance of a donation from the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC) in the amount up to $279,735 and approves a program budget. Donated funds will be utilized to pay for overtime to staff a dedicated MIH paramedic to run the Acute Care Station at the Haven for Hope campus for a 12 hour period starting at 7:00 pm. The Acute Care Station helps to improve the health of Haven residents and reduce admissions and/or readmissions to hospital emergency rooms. Additionally, the pilot program has favorably impacted unit availability and response times for the EMS & Fire Divisions.
ALTERNATIVES:
If funding is not accepted, the patients would be transported to the emergency rooms of local hospitals, which would create a system wide backlog in the emergency rooms and negatively impacts SAFD EMS utilization and response times.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This ordinance authorizes the acceptance and appropriation of a donation from the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC) in the amount up to $279,735.00 and approves a program budget to be used by the Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) unit of the EMS division of the San Antonio Fire Department to help improve the health and daily activities of residents utilizing services at Haven for Hope and reduce admissions and/or readmissions to hospital Emergency Rooms.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of this ordinance to accept the donation up to $279,735.00 from the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC).