THE HISTORY OF RURAL HEALTH COMMUNITY SYSTEMS
In the 1990’s the State Department of Health Office of Rural
Health officials were encouraging rural health and human service agencies
and organizations to come together and address health care problems
and issues that were not being addressed successfully by any single
unit working alone. In Steuben County, three independent organizations
with a similar focus came together to discuss a common problem.
At Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital two representatives from Rural/Metro
Medical Services were asking the CEO how they could work together to
respond to the need for urgent Advance Life Support (ALS). At the same
time an Emergency Department Nurse was asking a New York State trooper
why he didn’t know CPR. And why didn’t he have an Automatic
External Defibrillator (AED) in his trooper car? So, Rural Health Community
Systems was set in motion in 1998.
Rural health networks are administrative and planning tools. They are
not service providers. Discussions led the different groups to apply
jointly to become a state funded rural health network. The application
was written by Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital in cooperation with Rural/Metro
Medical Services and Noyes Memorial Hospital and sent to New York State
Office of Rural Health. The focus would be to expand and improve “access”
to Emergency Medical Services. The original network was named Noyes/Davenport/Rural/Metro
Health Network. The network got off to a tremendous start in part because
of common focus, which was shared by the New York State Police. The
benefits of this collaboration and hard work still abound.
The Emergency Department Nurse from Nicholas Noyes Hospital formally
requested that the New York State police become trained in and equipped
with automated heart defibrillators. The New York State police superintendent
approved a demonstration CPR-D project with the network and started
a voluntary training program with State Troopers, the first in New York
State.
In November 1999, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office filed with
the New York State Department of Health Notice of Intent to provide
public access defibrillation. The Sheriff’s Office received assistance
from R.H.C.S. All road deputies, court security deputies, and Steuben
County jail personnel were trained and certified in AED application.
Parallel to this project was the integration of paramedics into the
Emergency Department of Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital. Coordinated
by the paramedic operations manager from Rural/Metro, Ira Davenport
Memorial Hospital’s Vice President of Ambulatory Services, the
team developed an integration training and credentialing program for
the paramedics rotation through that Emergency Department on a 24/7
basis.
An executive from OCALS, (who later became a partner) administered
a two county EMS needs assessment which led to network evolution and
growth in unexpected ways. The name changed, a mission statement was
fashioned, Noyes Memorial Hospital left and Steuben County Emergency
Management Office came on. Through it all Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital
remained our anchor.
The Greater Steuben Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Retired
Senior Volunteer program became involved with Rural Health Community
Systems in 1998 when the governing committee was formed. As the original
partners, these people and representatives from voluntary EMS squads
have been actively involved in all aspects of the community education,
public awareness, marketing, support, planning, training and implementation
of network programs throughout Steuben County. The Red Cross representative
was elected the first chair of Rural Health Community Systems. Her work
in assessing the needs of Steuben County for the Public Access Defibrillation
program proved to be a jumping off point for a very successful PAD project.
The network partners worked collaboratively to establish the EMS Youth
Corps and “Camp RTE” (Responding to Emergencies). The Rural
Health Community Systems fashioned a recruitment and retention campaign
with a structure for training, marketing materials, manuals, and components
needed to carry out this important promotion for long range recruitment
and retention and in the short term, a strong chain of survival.
The network objectives are very simple. They are to educate, encourage,
and empower all residents to help in an emergency situation. Community
participants will learn new skills, meet new people and work as a team.
They will gain important characteristics like self-esteem, a sense of
belonging, and self-awareness. Rural Health Community Systems incorporates
leadership skills and team building into safety programming for preventing
and/or responding to emergencies.
Art Jones, Coordinator of Network Initiatives
Rural Health Community Systems
CNIrhcs@stny.rr.com
Elizabeth Embser Wattenberg, MCSA
President, Rural Health Resources
Rural Health Community Systems, Inc. Network Consultant
P.O. Box 111
Wellsville, NY 14895
585-593-2178
contact@ruralhealthresources.com
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