Jenny Rieker, director of Mobile Integrated Health at the Mehlville Fire Protection District, gave the district’s Board of Directors an update on the Mehlville Mobile Integrated Healthcare program at the board’s Aug. 16 meeting.
Rieker began the meeting by discussing the license that allows the Mehlville Mobile team to use its i-STAT machine. This machine gives them the ability to draw labs in the field and do a basic metabolic panel which is “basic electrolytes chemistry – so your sodium electrolytes, your potassium, chloride, all that fun stuff,” according to Rieker. It also allows them to run a lactate, which is how you measure if someone is in sepsis.
“It’s a very simple process done in the field where you draw labs, just like you would in a hospital, and then you put it in a small machine that runs the cartridge. We can have results in two minutes, we can report those to the doctor and that helps us manage those patients in the home,” Rieker said. “It can give us the ability to determine if we need to send someone to the hospital or not send somebody to the hospital.”
In the past few months, Mehlville Mobile also met with United Health Care to discuss a partnership and see if they could be reimbursed for their services.
“They have a partnership going on right now in rural Missouri, and they want to start partnering with people in urban and suburban areas. Luckily, we got on their radar pretty quick, and got them to come to our place for a visit, which was really awesome,” Rieker said.
On top of a partnership, Mehlville Mobile was also asked if they would be part of United Health Care’s “subject matter experts for mobile integrated health.”
“They felt like we’re doing a pretty darn good job down here with our mobile integrated health. They’re pretty impressed with what we’re doing, so they asked us to come on for some experts. So that’s pretty awesome,” Rieker said.
Mehlville Mobile has always been a leader in the field. Over the past couple years they have had the chance to speak locally and nationally on mobile integrated health topics.
In other news, they also received a grant for suboxone – a treatment for substance abuse, substance use disorder and opioid use disorder – induction on the field. The grant is for $25,000 a year for the next four years and will help provide those services to the community. Mehlville Mobile also does a “Leave Narcan Behind” program that is “going really well” with connecting patients to treatment.
They are also looking to revamp their CPR instruction by introducing a new class called “First on the Scene.” This class takes “Stop the Bleed” training, Narcan training, CPR and first aid training and puts it into one spot, all free of charge for anyone in the community. These classes are not yet available, but Rieker is hopeful to get them started in the coming year. There may be a couple pilot classes coming up, however, to see if there is interest.
Rieker was joined by Community Paramedic Nick Marty.