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Fire Department presents one-year update on EMS 6 outreach unit
Summary
Medical director Dr. Clement Yeh told the Fire Commission that EMS 6 made 2,244 encounters in its first year and reached 467 unique clients; presenters said the unit helped steer frequent 911 users into sobering, detox and housing services and joined a state community paramedicine pilot.
Dr. Clement Yeh, the San Francisco Fire Department’s medical director, told the Fire Commission on March 8 that the EMS 6 outreach unit has completed a busy first year of operations and appears to be reducing repeated 911 use among a subset of clients.
"Since January 2016 we’ve had 2,244 unique encounters," Yeh said, presenting program metrics. He added the unit has recorded 467 unique clients and averages about seven encounters per 12‑hour watch. Yeh said extended on‑scene evaluations and coordinated follow‑up let crews offer alternatives to hospital transport in some cases: "If there are around 60 avoided ambulance transports and 911 encounters, that amounts to about a $100,000 worth of largely unreimbursed charges," he said.
Paramedic Captains Simon Pang and April Bassett described case studies in which repeated callers were connected to detox, sobering…
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