Photo credit, City of El Cajon Last year, the City of El Cajon voted to set aside $300,000 for the pilot program, known as El Cajon Community Care. This program in partnership with American Medical Response (AMR) and Heartland Fire aims to reduce emergency room wait times and ambulance trips, which could cause unnecessary medical expenses, especially for the uninsured.
According to the city’s press release, residents will still reach be able to reach 9-1-1 and receive an ambulance as normal when dispatchers identify their situation as “urgent, life-threatening, or potentially life-threatening”. However, for calls that don’t meet these requirements, where individuals still need care, dispatchers will re-route callers to “nurse navigators” free of charge.
Nurse navigators are California state-licensed emergency professionals who can then determine the appropriate level of care needed and refer people to urgent care, local clinics, telehealth physicians, and transportation services.
Similar programs have been launched in ten other states and the District of Columbia. The Grossmont Healthcare District applauds this pilot project in the City of El Cajon and hopes to see similar community collaborations elsewhere in East County.
Learn more about the Community Care Program here or contact the City of El Cajon at 619.441.1716.
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