Jon Paul: Congrats to city on Mobile Integrated Health program

To The Daily Sun,

New Hampshire scores fairly well in national assessments of healthcare. Good, but could be improved.

As Donald Trump continues to radically slash healthcare, people with chronic care conditions are waiting a long time to see a doctor and/or other resources. With that said, congratulations to the Laconia Fire Department for the renewal of their Mobile Integrated Health program. The roll out of this program was very successful. It significantly reduced re-hospitalization of vulnerable patients.

This healthcare trend is catching on across the country and has proven a great success. This program has lowered the number of 911 calls and relieved overburdened emergency rooms and psychiatric facilities. There is even discussion that the Laconia Fire's program could be used in neighboring communities. This opens up for discussion expanding the use of critical care nurses and critical care paramedics in general. This may sound radical, but its long over due to allow these healthcare professionals to function in some form of primary care providers. The number of family physicians and general practitioners is plummeting in this country, just as the population is getting older. People shouldn’t have to wait months to get a PCP when critical care nurses and critical care paramedics could fill this role.

Just my two cents.

Jon Paul

Alton