California Pilot Program Offers Health Care at Firehouses

NEWARK – Firefighters are known for giving aid in many types of dire situations, ranging from rescue efforts to emergency medical care. But if two high-ranking Alameda County officials have their way, some firefighters soon may be providing another important service: health care for the uninsured.

The proposal, still in the planning stages, is called the Fire Station Health Care Portal pilot program, and it would offer free primary and preventive care to the public at five fire stations.

The groundbreaking program is the brainchild of Alameda County Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director Alex Briscoe, who presented their plan Thursday to the Newark City Council.

They aim to provide local remedies to a broken national health care system that they said is plagued by spiraling costs and monthslong delays for basic services because of an inadequate supply of health care, Briscoe said.

“We’re proposing a solution to a health care system where costs are running wild,” he said.

Those with health insurance will be served, but the program’s target audience is those who are uninsured or underinsured, Gilbert said.

“We’re trying to get that group of people who have nowhere else to go,” he said.

Seven stations — one each in Oakland, Newark, Hayward, San Leandro, Union City, San Lorenzo and Ashland — are being considered, Briscoe said.

The list will be narrowed to five by January, when the program’s feasibility assessment study will be completed and presented to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for approval, he said.

The criteria for assessing a station include its size, its proximity to public transportation and the number of patients in its surrounding area.

If the plan goes forward, each of the five stations would be staffed with three full-time employees: a firefighter-paramedic, a care coordinator and a nurse practitioner.

The stations would provide primary health care, serving patients in need of nonemergency care, Briscoe said.

They also would respond to nonemergency 911 calls, provide follow-up care for residents 48 hours after an emergency-room visit and take direct referrals from 211 calls for medical advice.

If all goes well, the first station will be operating as a health care portal by fall 2012.

Gilbert and Briscoe said they have identified about $6 million needed to operate the three-year pilot program.

However, they still are looking to raise $3 million and $4 million, most of which would be spent on one-time costs for renovating each station, Briscoe said.

They are working with philanthropic groups in order to raise those funds.

Part of the feasibility assessment includes determining “which sites have the resources to do the construction,” Briscoe said. “We’re looking for cities to contribute something to get the ball rolling.”