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A Rural Health Network Serving Steuben County Check out an online version of the Winter
2000 issue of the
What is a Rural Health Network?
A rural health network is an administrative tool that has the flexibility to establish new systems that can be used by providers to plan, coordinate, and deliver health care services. New organizations created by the network are not considered members of the network; rather they are activities of the network. A rural health network is a locally directed or governed organization that provides a set of health and administrative services needed in the community served by the network. A rural health network is based on the idea that the sharing of resources and ideas among organizations that deliver healthcare or healthcare related services can help to improve the delivery of rural healthcare services by increasing quality, reducing costs and developing new healthcare delivery systems specific to rural areas. A rural
health network focuses on identifying, comprehending and fulfilling the
ever-changing requirements of the individuals and organizations that use
our goods and services. By constantly assessing and improving our products
and services, we assure satisfied clients and the most efficient use of
our resources.
Rural Health Community Systems Rural Health Community
Systems was created in 1997, when the CEOs of Ira Davenport, Noyes Hospital
and Rural/Metro Medical Services Southern Tier formed an official “Rural
Health Network”, known as the Davenport/Noyes/Rural/Metro Rural Health
Network. This organization was an association of nonprofit and proprietary
corporations, public agencies and individuals providing healthcare and
related services in central Steuben County in New York State. These groups
came together in a collaborative forum to address common rural health services
issues. The New York State Department of Health, Office of Rural Health,
allocated a Rural Health Development Grant to support the activities of
this group.
Rural Health Community
Systems was developed to respond to a crucial need. It was not formed to
provide services, but rather to help smooth the rocky road of service provision
and to improve access to Emergency Medical Services in our service area.
The network members, the public, and the Emergency Medical Service providers
in this area will reap the benefits.
Rural
Health Community Systems Projects:
RHCS will develop and implement an Emergency Medical Services Youth Corps Project in Steuben County. This project will be the collaborative effort between RHCS, schools that support the program, interested EMS agencies, and youth participants. The program is open to youth at least 14 years of age, and will expose them to the world of EMS through fun and educational hands-on activities and meetings with participating volunteer ambulance corps to which they are assigned. Youth Corps members will receive uniforms, training in first aid, CPR, and Responding to Emergencies, among other things. In addition, the Youth Corps Advisors and participants will take part in ongoing education and prevention activities, as well as Continuous Quality Improvement. We believe that this program will encourage youth to meet necessary requirements and become full members of a volunteer EMS agency. RHCS hopes the program will also stimulate a decrease in high-risk behaviors and increase interest in learning. Comprehensively, the EMS Youth Corps will not only benefit the youth, But EMS, the community, and schools as well. Below are just
a few of the goals, not already outlined above, that RHCS hopes to accomplish
with this program:
Gina has 4 years experience in the hospital setting, is continuing her education at CCC, and is currently taking the EMT-D course to be completed in March 2001. She is an active volunteer for Rape Crisis of the Southern Tier, and completing a volunteer Mediator Apprenticeship with the Center for Dispute Settlement. With experience in developing pilot programs and as a Youth Service Worker, she has worked with high-risk youth, and assisted with a Big Brother Big Sister program. Gina will be an instructor for the Red Cross’ Responding to Emergencies Course, has training in conflict resolution, disease prevention, anger management, and Introduction to Emergency Management, among numerous other things. Mike Sprague,
Director of Emergency Management in Steuben County, graciously provides
space in the EMO office at the Steuben County Public Safety Building in
Bath. Feel free to contact Gina at 607-776-4099, or at rhcsemsy@linkny.com,
for further information, questions or comments about the program.
The information obtained from this study now represents the most comprehensive report card for the state of Emergency Medical Services in the region. It provides information that can be used as a quality improvement tool by the EMS agencies themselves. It looks at performance trends for both volunteer and paid EMS systems. It provides a means to help educate the public about how their EMS providers are measuring and improving their delivery of service. The results of this study can be found under “What’s New” at www.ruralhealthresources.com. The EMS providers
who responded to this survey have suggested that there are several areas
of concern in regards to EMS in the region. As a result of the concerns
which have been identified, Rural Health Community Systems is positioning
itself to help sponsor programs on: Medicare billing and payment, volunteer
recruitment and retention, EMS service management training and the development
of a plan to help market EMS in this area.
The concept of
using integrated or “shared” staff in the Emergency Department at Ira Davenport
Memorial Hospital has been a very positive growing process. The positive
attitude of the staff of the Rural Health Training Center made the entire
process much easier. The integration process at Ira Davenport Memorial
Hospital has been so positive that the entire nursing staff gave the Rural/Metro
Paramedics a vote of confidence. In addition, The New York State Department
of Health will be using the policies and procedures written for this project
concerning quality assurance, pre-hospital, and transfer and discharge
practices at Ira Davenport as the criterion for similar shared staff projects
across the state.
The automatic external defibrillator (AED) is a piece of equipment that, when connected though two electrical leads to the chest of a patient who has no pulse and is not breathing, can analyze the electrical activity of that patients heart. If the AED determines that the patient is in a lethal rhythm called ventricular fibrillation, it can deliver an electric countershock to the heart of that patient. Research has shown that ventricular fibrillation is one of the most common initial heart rhythms that occur in patients suffering from sudden cardiac arrest. Research has also shown that the definitive treatment for ventricular fibrillation is an electrical countershock, but this countershock must be delivered within the first few minutes after the patient suffers the initial cardiac arrest. Due to the fact that both of these police agencies have units patrolling the Steuben County area 24 hours a day, and also to the fact that they are often times closer to a cardiac arrest patient than any EMS unit, it seemed logical to bring them in as members of the network and to work with them so that they are able to augment the EMS system. Captain Edward
Haag, now retired, of the New York State Police, and Sgt. David Cole, also
retired from the New York State Police and now the Undersheriff of Steuben
County, worked very closely with Rural/Metro Medical Services on the selection
of AED units appropriate for police use and on the training of Troopers
and Sheriffs Deputies.
Today, both of these Law Enforcement agencies have patrol cars in the Steuben County area equipped with AED units and officers trained in their use. Rural Health Community
Systems also has some funding available for the purchase of defibrillators
and the training of individuals to the CPR-Defibrillation level under the
scope of the new Public Access Defibrillator law. If you or your organization
would like more information about this program, please contact Rural Health
Community Systems. Numbers are listed below.
The Rural Health Community Systems Board of Directors James B.
Watson, CEO
Michael
Sprague, Director
Arthur Jones,
EMT-P, Operations Manager
Everett
Ferguson, EMT-P, Executive Director
Mary Jo
Bruinooge, EMT
David Cole,
Undersheriff
Candi Thompson,
Director of Health and Safety Services
Nan Hammes
Project Director
The Rural Health Community Systems Staff Betty Wattenberg,
MCSA
Adam Oplinger,
AAS, NREMT-P
For more information about Rural Health Community Systems, or if you or your organization would be interested in participating, contact: Betty Wattenberg
Adam Oplinger
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