Frequent 911 calls from chronically ill city residents have dropped significantly since the launch of an effort by the Milwaukee Fire Department to help those residents better manage their health conditions.
Once the program was initiated, from October to December 2015, calls from such patients who participated fell 26%.
In 2016 those calls fell by 56%, and fell by 62% in 2017, fire department officials said.
Michael Wright, mobile integrated health care coordinator for the department, who spearheaded the project.
Wright was among about 100 people who gathered Friday at the fire department's downtown Station 2 to herald the accomplishments of the program.
Since its launch, about 300 patients have participated in mobile integrated health care in rotating groups of 30 during 30-day periods, Wright said.
That comes on top of the 2,000 hours of paramedic training they have already received, according to Milwaukee Fire Department Chief Mark Rohlfing. »