Council approves federal grant to expand mobile healthcare program

LACONIA — Winnipesaukee Mobile Health — a collaborative community paramedicine program of the city, Concord Hospital, and Partnership for Public Health — will be getting a boost for better coverage in the Lakes Region, thanks to a federal grant approved by council on Monday.

Following a public hearing with no comments, council unanimously approved accepting a grant from GO-NORTH Foundations for Healthy Communities amounting to $500,000. Fire Chief Tim Joubert said it will be used for new staffing and expansion to surrounding communities.

The approved funds will improve on the city’s existing mobile integrated health program of the fire department. The one-year grant can be renewed for up to five years, for $500,000 each time.

The city must reapply each year. Monday's motion authorized the city manager to accept and spend the grant money for each of the next four years.

Joubert said Wednesday the department was already approved for the funds, and can now officially accept them, after the council voted to approve. He lauded the program, saying the fire department works directly with PPH in supplying a community paramedic supervisor, community health workers, and oversight.

The grant money allows for the addition of a full-time community paramedic, part-time community paramedic/EMT, another community health worker, and a part-time administrative position. The grant will also allow for the expansion of services to surrounding communities.

The hope is to post these positions in November, hold interviews in December, and go live on Feb. 1, with the expansion.

“Right now, the community health workers, the paramedics, are in Laconia. So, we can branch out with actual clinical treatment outside of Laconia,” Joubert said.

Joubert said the program, which was originally initiated in 2024, has been “very, very successful.” He said the program helps in a time where not everyone has a primary care physician. They work directly with patients to provide them the services needed. To ensure there is no lapse in care has been “pretty amazing.”

“We have proven that it makes a difference in decreasing unnecessary transports,” Joubert said. “We are treating people at the right time, and in the right place.”

Joubert said the city has been working directly with the grantees to make sure everything is aligned. They have been working on necessary equipment procurement, and job descriptions.

“The wheels are definitely turning,” Joubert said.

GO-NORTH grants were created to expand mobile integrated health and launch new programs in the state’s rural communities, with a goal of bringing care closer to home and providing patients with lower costs, quicker access, and additional options.

The grant's acceptance comes on the heels of a visit to the Granite State from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, when he announced the allocation of $11 million in federal funds to expand mobile healthcare in rural New Hampshire. This investment is part of $50 billion from the Rural Health Transformation Program, with $204 million sent to New Hampshire in 2025.

In a recent visit to Concord, Kennedy said with an increasing aging rural population making more calls, the funds will benefit “the whole system” and take stress off emergency departments.

Joubert was thankful for the support offered by the city.

“It’s amazing the city has been so supportive of the program since its inception, and to identify the need of expansion.”