GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — A new team within Guilford County EMS is making a huge difference.
There were 344 non-emergency calls to 911 over a 30-day period.
That number dropped all the way to four because of the new Adult Resource Team, or ART.
Who do you call when you need in-home help, mental health services, or getting connected to other community services?
Well, a lot of people in Guilford County call EMS, but the Adult Resource Team is changing that.
Cheri Stinson is the Adult Resource Team Supervisor.
"Our goal is to reduce the EMS calls that we're getting here in the community that are not emergency calls," said Stinson.
Justin Hargett is the Guilford County EMS Manager.
"We've always dealt with what we would call, frequent users or high volume utilizers of 911 and it's always just kind of been case-by-case management," said Hargett.
The two work hand in hand.
When EMS responds to a call, if it's someone who needs help often for a non-emergency situation, that's where the ART team gets the referral and steps in to help.
Harget said since COVID-19, the number of non-emergency calls has gone up.
In turn, it creates a major drain on resources.
'This is becoming more and more important for us to be able to handle these calls in a way that doesn't bring ambulances to their house or fire trucks or police cars," said Hargett.
The team has three social workers and a supervisor, which is Stinson. They work with all community services to get people the help they need.
"Sometimes they're social needs or mental health needs or just resource needs and they call EMS because they don't know who else to call," said Hargett.
"A lot of times some people are scared or simply they just don't know," said Stinson.
Stinson said this month the group was able to help 40 people get the proper services
"Whatever they need, we're able to help them and walk them through this process," said Stinson. "Then that reduces the cost to EMS, so it doesn't tie EMS up with non-emergencies so that they can go out and take care of the other emergencies that they need."
The program started in December and it's proving its success.
The county manager told commissioners it had saved 170 public safety staff hours and nearly 400,000 dollars.
Scott O’Connor, the EMS Shift Commander, is a big piece of this program.
He has spent countless hours coordinating care, social work, performing home visits and helping to reduce call volume in EMS for many years prior to the ART Team.
Hargett said O'Connor would coordinate with DSS and other community agencies based on the relationships he had built and his healthcare background.
O'Connor is a big piece in the implementation of the ART Team for EMS and is the liaison for the team.
"This allows us to up our game and our ability to take care of our community members, while also still providing that service for those who have true emergencies," said Hargett.
Of course, EMS will respond when they are called, but this helps lower the number of repeat callers who just need basic services.