Free Health Care At Alameda County Fire Stations In The Works
| October 17th, 2011
October 17, 2011 A pilot program to provide healthcare for the uninsured and underinsured in Alameda County at five fire stations is in the planning stages and could be in place as early as fall of next year. The Oakland Tribune reports that the nearly $10 million dollar project would offer free primary and preventative healthcare to those in need. The project, called the Fire Station Health Care Portal pilot program, which is headed by Alameda County Fire Chief, Sheldon Gilbert, and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director, Alex Briscoe, has a list of seven stations in the area that are contenders to host the program. That list will be narrowed to five participants by January. Then, those five stations will be overhauled to accommodate three full-time employees: A firefighter/paramedic, a care coordinator, and a nurse practitioner. They will be responsible for giving non-emergency, primary care to the public as well as responding to non-emergency 911 calls, giving medical advice for 211 calls, and providing follow-up care. Gilbert and Briscoe believe the idea could offer local solutions for a nation-wide health care crisis. Briscoe commented, “We’re proposing a solution to a health care system where costs are running wild.” If enacted, the program would run for three years before assessment of its impact. The California Personal Injury Attorneys at Berg Injury Lawyers would like to applaud local officials for making such great efforts to ensure everyone in our area gets the health care that they deserve.
