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Detroit Fire Department outlines 911 nurse‑navigation pilot to divert low‑priority calls
Summary
City fire officials presented a plan to route low‑priority 911 calls to nurses and telehealth resources, aiming to reduce non‑emergency ambulance dispatches and lower costs; the department expects a vendor-selection in Q3 and a pilot starting in January.
Detroit Fire Department officials presented a nurse‑navigation plan on June 16 designed to triage low‑priority 911 calls and connect callers with nurses, scheduled transport or telehealth instead of automatic ambulance dispatch.
"The Detroit Fire Department sees approximately 25% of our requests are low priority," Deputy Commissioner Derek Hellman told the committee, citing about 150,000 911 calls per year and an estimated quarter of those as non‑emergent. Hellman said the program would redirect those calls to nurses for quality control and appropriate referrals to urgent care, telehealth or scheduled transport when an ambulance is not required.
Officials described a procurement timeline: Q3 bid review to select a vendor, contract negotiation in Q4, a January soft‑pilot and a full rollout in spring. The department said vendors include translation services able to support up to 200 languages.
Members generally supported the idea and asked how the program would coordinate with the health department's existing services for new and expecting mothers; Hellman said staff intend to collaborate and to publicize the pilot to ensure the public understands the program will not discourage calling 911 in true emergencies.
Next steps: the committee requested further information about vendor selection and language‑access capabilities and said it would invite the department back as the procurement progresses.
