Summary: The Denver Health Paramedic Division (DHPD) is the primary 911 emergency medical transportation service in Denver, Colorado. It supports emergency and non-emergency medical response at critical gathering sites, such as Denver International Airport and event venues around the city. Additionally, DHPD runs numerous community-focused special operations, including the High-Risk Infection Transport Team (HITTeam), which focuses on responding to special pathogen events. The HIT Team is closely integrated with hospital partners as part of the Region 8 Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center. DHPD is committed to continuous improvement and exploring ways to improve care and comfort for patients. In 2022, the HITTeam began work on the virtual assessment model (VAM) as an innovative and novel approach to treating low-risk suspect cases in the community. In 2024, DHPD paramedics took this a step further by studying to become endorsed community paramedics (P-CP), enabling them to perform expanded medical interventions in community-integrated healthcare service settings. The HIT Team is leading efforts to attain P-CP endorsements to enhance the quality of special pathogen care delivered by the Division and re-focus response on the community in what is traditionally a hospital-centric subspecialty. Alongside hospital and public health partners, HITTeam P-CPs will incorporate special pathogen case assessment, monitoring, specimen collection, patient and family teaching, and pharmaceutical intervention into a mobile framework, thus reducing reliance on hospital-based resources and response structures for low-risk suspect cases. DHPD’s collaboration with other public safety and emergency preparedness entities highlights the Division’s commitment to providing high-quality medical and support services to meet community needs. Obtaining P-CP endorsement for members of the HITTeam is another step towards establishing DHPD as an integral part of the social fabric of Denver. It could have far-reaching consequences when it comes to centering paramedicine on the patients and community members who utilize DHPD services.
Lenz et al. (Sun,) studied this question.