SANFORD, Fla. — There is a new way firefighter-paramedic crews are responding to certain 911 calls in Sanford. Less urgent calls will fall under the "Community Paramedicine" program, in which a special team helps with preventive care to curb ER visits.

Imagine the wide variety of calls coming into the Sanford Fire Department. Lt. Aaron Hinson lists a few real-life examples: a person locked out of their home, someone who has fallen, a kitten stuck in a car engine, or someone who cannot climb their stairs.

That is part of the reason he launched Community Paramedicine. Hinson and five other colleagues will be available to respond to these calls and work with the caller to establish in-home patterns that keep them out of the Emergency Room in the long run.

Hinson explains that it is designed to cut back on crowds at the hospital, to save people a lot of money, and to free-up the other firefighters to be able to respond to more dire situations.

“So, I help them,” Hinson explains. “Typically, that’s simply a phone call to the primary care physician. Depending on the person, a lot of people don’t even have that. They’re used to using the ER as their primary care,” he continues.

“(I) educate them on the things that they need to do to be able to take care of themselves,” he adds.

There is a host of things the new crew responds to, like:

• Elderly care
• Consistent fall victims
• Diabetes care
• COVID-19 care and some antibody treatments

The service is free for citizens; Hinson says it will just cost the department the manpower, to pay the crew of five time for the calls they make.