TULSA, Okla. — Saint Francis Health System launched a new, mobile healthcare unit for patients dealing with acute medical conditions so they can be treated in their own homes.
Saint Francis has partnered with a company called Dispatchhealth.
They currently have two mobile units that can make the home visits, but they said they are hoping to launch a third unit in the future.
Rubi Littarel, a nurse practitioner for DispatchHealth, told FOX23 that this will help ease some of the pressure on emergency rooms.
“Oftentimes we have patients that can only access care through the emergency department,” Littarel said. “So 70 percent of what the emergency department can do, we are able to do in the comfort of the patient’s home.”
When called, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and a medic will turn up with medicine and equipment needed to treat their patients.
President and CEO of Saint Francis, Dr. Cliff Robertson, said this could be the future of healthcare.
“We, every day, have patients that are trying to access care in our emergency departments that just can’t because there’s so much demand,” he said. “We know that there are a certain number of patients that come to our emergency department that really had a condition that could have been cared for in a different manner.”
DispatchHealth said they can treat a wide range of injuries and illnesses and have onsite diagnostics and a certified lab.
Robertson added that the mobile units can be helpful, especially since COVID-19 has changed the way he believes patients see healthcare.
“We think the time is right,” he said. “The general public really recognizes that, ‘Hey, if [healthcare] can be brought to me at home, that’s wonderful.’ Quite frankly, we’ve gotten spoiled by having things come to us at home whether it’s having our groceries delivered or DoorDash. Now we’re going to have another level of care that we can bring right to people’s homes.”
He told FOX23 he hopes this is just the beginning of what at-home treatment can be in Tulsa.
Currently, their average wait time is within two hours.
The mobile units were launched Wednesday and will be available starting Thursday at 8 a.m.
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