OSF Saint Anthony is teaming up with the Rockford Fire Department to reinvent the "house call."
It's called Mobile Integrated Care. They plan to to start visiting sick patients, who are frequent visitors to the ER, at their homes.
"We can tell them what [behavior] to change all we want in the hospital, but unless we can help them, and encourage them, and reduce some of these barriers, they're not going to be able to make the changes [they need] and they might plunk themselves right back into the hospital," said OSF's Emergency Medical Services' Director, Jane Pearson.
The program will start with 10 to 15 patients at a time. They're focusing on the chronically ill, frail, elderly, or mobility-impaired.
"Perhaps they're in the hospital with an acute illness but they have chronic medical problems," said Pearson. "When they're released home, they're not always quite ready to assume all their daily care."
Fire Chief Derek Bergsten hopes the initiative will reduce 911 calls, which cost the City about $21,000 last year.
"I think it's going to prove a benefit to their overall health and decrease admissions ... to the hospital," said Bergsten.
A Rockford Fire Department paramedic or EMT, along with Pearson, will work hands-on to help the patients, from their diets to connecting them with social services.