The Miriam Hospital opened nearly 100 years ago with the goal of ensuring care was accessible to all. Today, that mission continues as caregivers work tirelessly to bring care to those in our community who need it—even beyond the walls of 164 Summit Avenue.
The recent wait times in the emergency department are impossible to ignore, and it impacts the hospital’s ability to provide care as efficiently as it would like. But the cause isn’t that more people are having more emergencies. Instead, a significant contributing factor is that many Rhode Islanders are using emergency departments as their primary healthcare site—for a number of reasons. Emergency departments function as a safety net for under and uninsured patients. Committed to finding a way to reduce and remove barriers and access issues so patients can get the care they need without going to the emergency department, Lifespan began bringing care into the community with mobile integrated healthcare (MIH) in 2021.
Mobile integrated healthcare brings care to patients outside of the hospital setting using mobile resources. Skilled medical staff, paramedics, and community health workers, collaborate to provide patients with the care they need, wherever their home is. This includes helping them access primary care physicians, follow up care after a hospital admission, wound and burn care support, and chronic disease management, as well as food and housing insecurity resources.
This year’s fund-a-need at The Miriam Hospital Gala & Auction will support the crucial and growing need for mobile integrated healthcare and will directly impact The Miriam Hospital and its surrounding community. Funds raised will support the expansion of MIH by hiring a second community health worker dedicated to The Miriam emergency department, as well as a mobile integrated healthcare program coordinator, and provide funds needed for staff and patient care supplies for the next 18 months.
“Taking healthcare services out of the hospital benefits our community and aligns with our original and still current mission of ensuring all patients, including those who are most vulnerable, receive our care”, says Dr. Maria Ducharme, President of The Miriam Hospital. “This is something we can do to positively impact our population’s health and assist in management of such.”
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