“The Emerald City.” “Jet City”. “Rain City”. These are all common names for Seattle that we have heard and likely use to refer to our city. But another name that Seattle has is “The City of Goodwill.” That name speaks to who this city is and what this city is about. This idea of goodwill was on display Wednesday, February 26th, as Seattle Fire Department Fire Chief, and fellow Seattle 4 Rotarian, Harold Scoggins spoke to Rotarians about history, impact, and implementation of the City’s Health One and Health 99 programs.
Health One began in 2011 as the Vulnerable Adult Program and was designed to help individuals with medical and mental health care, shelter, or other social services. From there, in 2016 it grew into the low Acuity Alarm Program, later the Mobile Integrated Health response unit (MIH). In 2019, Health One was officially launched and since then it has continued to grow with a second unit activated in 2021, a third in 2022, and a fourth set to be launched in 2026. In addition to Health One, there was also the Health 99 overdose response team that was launched in 2023.
“And our goal was also to meet people where they are, spend time that was necessary to get them to where they needed to be, or the help that they needed, and then provide a warm handoff so we can ensure there is going to be follow up care,” Chief Scoggins said regarding the goal of these programs. Both Health One and Health 99 aim to help those in the community that for one reason or another may need additional assistance, but beyond that it seeks to address the issues leading to their 911 calls and resolve those issues.
“So sometimes we go into members of the community’s home and they’re falling over and over and over. Well maybe they need some handrails installed or different things like that,” Chief Scoggins said when providing examples of addressing issues causing the need for assistance. These programs also seek to alleviate the workload on 911 dispatchers by directing calls as they come in to determine what kind of suitable response is needed for callers. “And this is where the triage work is really done in this area,” Chief Scoggins said on how calls are directed to Health One and Health 99.
In 2024, Health One fielded over 3,500 referrals to their program for automated fall alerts, high utilizers, low acuity medical, and many other types of MIH clients. In comparison, in 2023 total referrals to Health One were over 2,900, representing a year-over-year increase of roughly 20%. Data provided by Chief Scoggins shows that the mean age of MIH clients is 67 years, with that mean age expected to increase as the Seattle community continues to age. “People need help, and it’s our goal to be able to help them with what they need, and our folks have done a really great job in putting that together,” Chief Scoggins said on MIH’s ability to analyze client data.
With typical shifts for Health One and Health 99 going from 9am to 7pm Monday through Thursday, the programs have averaged 7.7 crew dispatches per shift with on-scene care averaging out at 42.2 minutes. This attention to MIH clients has allowed the Seattle Fire Department to not only treat the immediate issues when on scene, but to conduct follow-up visits with clients to ensure that the issues they faced
are mitigated, if not outright solved. “These are the type of things that really make a difference in someone’s life, when we can help them where they are right then and there,” Chief Scoggins said.
In addition to Health One and Health 99, the city in 2024 was able to hire an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ANRP) that accompanies these units to provide on scene care, diagnosis, and when needed medical prescriptions. This process allows the Seattle Fire Department to help alleviate the burden that emergency rooms face with patient loads. “We actually had a fire, and a person had some smoke inhalation, and our nurse practitioner was on scene and she did a medical assessment, and the person didn’t need to be transported, but we took care of it right there,” Chief Scoggins said when providing an example of the impact that the ARNP has had.
While Health 99 works in tandem with Health One, its area of focus is on overdoses, and operates as a co-responder model to Health One. This program has drawn inspiration from other fire departments across the country including Camden, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; San Antonio, TX; and San Francisco, CA. “So far, it has been a pretty positive program and is actually getting people in care,” Chief Scoggins said on the impact of Health One and Health 99. This program, in conjunction with the ARNP, seeks to treat the post overdose effects that may lead to a relapse, another overdose, or worse. Through the use and administration of Buprenorphine, a medication designed to treat addiction, Health 99 can treat the initial symptoms of overdose and simultaneously prevent symptoms of withdrawal. The effectiveness of this drug has a small window when it can be administered effectively. If given to a patient within this window, Buprenorphine will help prevent withdrawal symptoms and the addition of an ARNP to the unit has helped with treating patients within this critical time window.
While these programs have been beneficial to the city there is still the challenge of staffing shortages for the city’s fire department. With over 105 vacancies for a staff of 1,100 sworn firefighters, there is a significant demand for firefighters and EMTs. In November, applications were opened up to the public with over 3,800 respondents. Of these respondents, 1,500 had scores high enough to move on to the interview process. “But if anyone you know is interested in the fire service, our applications will open again, probably late next fall,” Chief Scoggins said.
Closing out his presentation, Chief Scoggins shared what we as a city can do to share our support to our first responders. “You know, be our advocates and our voices for our council and our mayor. That's important for us. And also, when you see firefighters out there, just go up and introduce yourself and say, ‘Hey, we appreciate the work that you do.’ That's really all we need. You know, a ‘Thank you’ every now and again goes a long way, and it'll probably bring a few smiles to firefighters faces,” Chief Scoggins said in closing.
In addition to Chief Scoggins, Wednesday’s meeting featured a presentation from Maddie Vonhoff speaking about her work with the Committee for Children, a nonpartisan group focused on helping children learn, grow, and thrive. Vonhoff shared how the recent actions in Washington D.C. to cut funding to USAID have caused adverse impacts to programs such as Peace Tree Vietnam. “Our work at Seattle Rotary is going to be directly impacted by these policy choices,” Vonhoff said. Programs that Rotary International and Seattle 4 support are expected to be impacted by the cuts to USAID and other programs. “And while these cuts are going to impact millions of people abroad, please join me in educating the community around you that they are also going to affect us,” Vonhoff added. Programs at universities, local jobs, and local agricultural exports have already begun to see adverse impacts from these cuts.
In closing, Vonhoff added ways that Seattle 4 Rotarians can act to help preserve the hard-fought wins that have been made in health, education, and equality. Vonhoff encouraged Rotarians to donate to
Rotary International, the Seattle Rotary Service Foundation, and to advocate in favor of programs like USAID to their local, state, and federal representatives. “Here's the thing that does give me hope during this time. Rotarians don't wait for permission to lead. When there's a gap, we've been known to fill it, and when there's a need, we act. I know we can't do this alone, but this is our moment to step up, leverage our resources, and networks and show what true service and leadership looks like,” Vonhoff said in closing.
Future Seattle 4 President Jan Levy gave a summary of the 2024 Future Vision survey results. With a 55% rate of response from Seattle 4, respondents shared that they still prefer to meet in-person at 88%, with 62% of respondents also expressing their favor for evening events. Respondents also shared that they prefer the current monthly cadence of two in-person lunch meetings, one virtual meeting, and an evening event as well.
The next meeting will be Wednesday March 5th at 12:30pm at Motif hotel and will feature Governor Bob Ferguson. Due to security concerns, this meeting will only be open to club members, guests of members, visiting Rotarians, and prospective members who have been in active contact regarding membership. Registration for this lunch will close on Friday February 28th at noon.
THANK YOU LOGAN FOR THIS WEEK'S SUPER COMPREHENSIVE MEETING REPORT! :)
