Rural paramedics are making routine house calls to avoid costly emergency room visits

From Marketplace:

In some rural parts of the U.S., where hospitals and doctors’ offices are in short supply, people often turn to calling 911 just for basic medical care.

Experts say that’s a problem for patients and hospitals, but a growing model called community paramedicine aims to address it by having paramedics regularly check in on people before a health issue turns into an emergency.

One of those programs is playing out in the tiny desert town of Terlingua, Texas, where Susan Martin is chief of the local emergency medical services department. Her small crew, fewer than 10 people, responds to 911 calls across a dusty, 3,000-square-mile range of rural West Texas.