Winnebago Comprehensive Healthcare System (WCHS) and its Winnebago Public Health Department (WPHD)’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) division serves all 2,983 Native and non-Native people living on the Winnebago Indian Reservation. This "WPHD EMS Training Project" will adopt strategies to adequately staff the EMS Team to ensure that Reservation residents receive robust, efficient, and skilled EMS support at all times (24/7).
This will be accomplished by recruiting more EMS personnel and making training available to upgrade staff certification levels. Training opportunities will also be offered to other regional EMS departments, with a particular emphasis on collaborating with the nearby Omaha Tribal Ambulance Service. A Learning Lab will be available to both Tribal EMS staffs. We will leverage professional association and other ad hoc opportunities to adopt best practices.
The need is growing; transports to the WCHS Twelve Clans Unity Hospital were up 9.9% from 2018 to 2019; including trips to other urgent care facilities, pre-Covid-19 demand was estimated at 850 – 1,000 transports (note: it is anticipated demand will increase; regional packing plants will remain C-19 hotspots throughout the Project length).
According to the internal EMS database, the focus population is statistically dispersed by age with a slight preponderance of 60-69 year olds. Clinical characteristics are also dispersed: suicidal ideations (11.31%); abdominal pain (9.05%); altered mental status (6.79%); dyspnea, aka difficulty breathing (5.88%) are the highest prevalence issues in 2020 Year to Date. Other conditions include unclassified pain; lower extremity leg pain; and altered mental status, along with 59 other distinct categories, all with 2.5% or less occurrence statistics.
Increasing staff members, upgrading their credentials, and developing regional cooperation through ongoing Regional EMS convenings will be coordinated by an Outreach & Training Coordinator (O/TC) funded through this grant. WCHS will attempt to make the O/TC position sustainable (and will allow WCHS Marketing Director to collaborate to ensure community awareness and buy-in); in the meantime, the O/TC will focus in this first year on deliverables that tangibly benefit EMS for the future. These include: upgrading staff so that 4 Paramedics and 4 additional National Registered EMTS are in place; sustainable recruiting efforts developed at regional high schools and community colleges; quarterly regional EMS convenings which explore economies of scale/regional cooperation; strategies to enhance cooperation between dispatchers and EMS personnel; robust participation in national professional associations to support best practices and recruitment efforts; the Learning Lab’s ability to support traditional coursework as well as simulations; and culturally congruent training, primarily through a staff retreat that will help Native and Non-native team members understand historic and current community trauma and will arm Winnebago and Omaha EMS staff with self-care techniques.