Honored for its role in adapting to the needs of the community, Ute Pass Regional Health Service District was named the 2023 J. Evan Goulding District by the Special District Association of Colorado.

“The district strives each day to lead with dignity and respect, making them a pillar of heart within the community,” said Ann Terry the association’s executive director.

Tim Dienst and Dave Hansher, the district’s executive, and deputy directors, respectively, along with several staff members, received the award at the conference this month in Keystone.

The district moved out in front of Colorado’s 32 special districts during the COVID lockdown that began in March 2020.

“COVID taught us lot because there were so many patients with less acute problems who needed care,” Dienst said. “They were afraid to go to the hospital and/or their doctor’s office because they were afraid of contracting the disease.”

Dienst directed the staff to pivot. “We had to quickly adapt to the new situation, to connect people with emergency physicians through telehealth,” Dienst said. “We’re still doing it, to a lesser extent. We think it will diminish the need for ambulances.”

The lessons of COVID revealed a bright shining light on the current financial model for emergency services, which Dienst terms a “failed model,” due to the expense.

“The model relies on taking patients by the most expensive means, an ambulance, to the most expensive place, a hospital emergency department,” he said. “You go to an emergency department where they are so busy that you sit for hours.”

The district’s Community Paramedic program under the direction of James Mclaughlin fulfilled a need.

In addition to using telehealth in place of a “house call,” the community paramedics will, in some circumstances, pick up and deliver prescribed medicines.

However, there are times when the hospital is provide care.

“And if you’re having a heart attack, a stroke or are really sick, then you need to go in an ambulance to the hospital,” Dienst said.

During the lockdown period, the paramedics administered monoclonal antibodies in the facility’s ambulance bays. “While people were in their cars, we’d give them an infusion, watch them for little bit and then let them go home,” Dienst said.

When Medicare did not pay for the treatment at the facility, the paramedics switched to administering the antibodies in the homes.

“At the end of the day, Medicare did not reimburse us,” Dienst said. “That was a pressing issue in our community for the elderly and medically disadvantaged. We kept several people from going to the hospital or dying.”

The association award recognizes the comprehensive role of the the only place to community paramedic.

“If the patient will allow us, we look at food insecurity – if their kitchen cabinets are empty, we help patients navigate to food resources,” Dienst said.

For patients without a primary care physician, have difficulty navigating the healthcare system, or qualify but lack access to Medicaid, the paramedics add information to their services.

“We don’t advise them, we connect them to people who can,” Dienst said. “Those are some of the simple things we do that ultimately reduce the need for an ambulance.”

With the Mental Health Assessment Program, the paramedics are trained to de-escalate crisis situations triggered by substance abuse, for instance, domestic violence or ideas of suicide.

At the ceremony in Keystone, the association director noted the district slogan: “In times of need we will answer the call,” Dienst said.