LYNNWOOD — While two local agencies expand their community paramedic program aimed at preventing hospital emergency room visits, another is starting one of its own.

The Verdant Health Commission is providing a grant of more than $1 million that will allow Snohomish County Fire District 1 and the Lynnwood Fire Department to team up and expand their efforts in south county.

At the same time, Camano Island Fire and Rescue expects to launch its own program in early 2016.

The concept of a community paramedic is fairly new. The idea is to try to prevent emergencies before they can happen in the first place.

At Fire District 1, paramedic Shane Cooper has been on the beat in the preventative mode for two years. He often visits with people who frequently called for 911 services in the past, monitoring their situations and connecting them with social and health care resources aimed at reducing their risks.

An independent study of the first year showed promising results. The number of 911 calls and emergency room visits dropped significantly among the people on Cooper’s case load.

For the first half of 2015, 911 calls were reduced by more than 50 percent and emergency room visits dropped by 43 percent among patients receiving community paramedic services.

Capt. Shaughn Maxwell, who heads up the fire district’s Emergency Medical Services division, said the program is making a difference.

“We have gotten significantly better at connecting people faster with the resources they need and we are getting better results,” he said.

In the past, Verdant provided money for separate community paramedic programs with Lynnwood and District 1. Now, they will combine efforts. They will call themselves the South Snohomish County Community Resource Paramedic Task Force.

“Working together creates efficiencies and opportunities for this program to have a greater impact in the communities we serve,” Lynnwood Fire Chief Scott Cockrum said.

Cooper will work with Lynnwood paramedic Dan Grantier as well as Kristen Thorstenson, who will focus on preventing falls, a leading cause of referrals. The grant also includes money for a part-time worker to enter data, run reports and build files so the others can spend more time in the field working with patients.

On Camano Island, Ken Drewry, a paramedic who serves as the district’s medical services officer, is coordinating the new program. It’s called CARES, an acronym for Community Assistance, Referral and Education Service.

“We can actually provide solutions instead of just putting a Band-Aid on someone’s problem,” he said. “This will reduce non-emergency calls to 911 and lower emergency service costs for the community.”

The program will focus on the elderly, people living with chronic illnesses and the homeless. Those groups can include people with mental health issues or substance abuse.

Camano assistant fire chief Levon Yengoyan said Drewry is one of the district’s most experienced medics.

“He’s just got a passion for wanting to find a better way of serving or a different way of serving, Yengoyan said.

The assistant chief described the new program as a community effort that takes into consideration 911 data and examines patient fall numbers. It’s a departure from the status quo.

“We’re happy to do that and that’s the job we have, but at the same time, are we really doing what’s right for the patient?” he said. “Is there another service we can provide to them before they have that fall or that fourth (fire department) trip out of their house in the same day?”

The Camano district plans to monitor the community impact and potential cost savings during the next few years.

Some things might be less quantifiable, but Drewry knows the program could make a difference in quality of life.

“It is important for people to be able to age in place,” he said. “Community paramedics can help them make the connections they need to remain in their homes as long as possible.”

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.