The Avra Valley Fire District rsponds to an average of 1600 calls each year.  Of these calls, approximately 400 are for chronic care patients.  The District believes these chronic care patients could benefit from a home-based healthcare program that includes patient assessment, education, follow-up care, and a safety assessment of their environment.

While responding to calls and providing emergency medical services continues to be one of the District's primary goals, we believe that the District should strive to improve the quality of life for its community members.  According to Chief Delfs, "We need to provide alternative healthcare services to meet the needs of our community because it is the right thing to do".

The Avra Valley Fire District, in cooperation with Golder Ranch Fire District, Northwest Allied Physicians, Oro Valley Hospital and Saint Mary's Hospital, has implemented a program called the Community Integrated Healthcare Program.  This program utilizes paramedics who have undergone additional training in nutrition, pharmacology, lab values, smoking cessation, and disease-specific processes to improve the quality of life and decrease hospital readmissions for chronic care patients referred into the program.  These chronic care conditions include:  congestive heart failure (CHF), diabetes, pneumonia, post myocardial infarction, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 

Patients with chronic care conditions who are referred into the program by the discharging hospital and/or Allied Physicians will be contacted by the Fire District to determine if they want to participate in the program.  If they volunteer for the 30-day program, the paramedics will visit them at their home.  These visits will include:

• a home safety and environmental evaluation
• review of their medications
• discharge instructions review and education
• medical assessment

Our paramedics will provide regular updates to the patient's primary care physician and specialists.  This is a voluntar program and the patient will not be charged for any services provided.