ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Longtime Alpharetta paramedic David Allen slips into his Ford F-150 pickup truck to check on one of his clients, 86-year-old Nancy Reynolds, who is wheelchair-bound.
Allen and fire Captain John Hebert arrive at her home to visit with her for a few minutes and see if there’s anything she needs.
“Without David, I would be up the creek without a paddle,” she said. “He’s everything. He’s really very good at what he does. And what he does is very needed for someone like me, and I appreciate it greatly.”
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Allen is the lead community paramedic for a program called My Watch, launched by the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety.
It began two years ago and includes a half dozen members.
“911 dependency was our inroad,” Allen said. “It was the first way for us to know these are the problems that are showing themselves.”
Alpharetta officials noticed that some people were repeatedly calling 911 for what first responders deem a non-emergency.
The most frequent call by far was for “lift assistance,” or help after a fall.
David Febles is a part-time Alpharetta police officer and licensed therapist who’s a member of the My Watch team. “And we say listen, what is it we can do? You keep falling out of the bed. Let’s get you a lift assist,” he said. “You keep falling off the stairs. Let’s get you something to help you get up the stairs.”
Since My Watch began, the program has helped more than 200 people cut their dependency on 911. Allen said that frees up crews to respond to life-threatening calls.
“The big danger is being on a non-emergency call and a real emergency, or a life-threatening emergency, comes out,” he said.
Alpharetta gets an average of 42,000 calls to 911 every year, which is about 115 every day.
The city plans to expand the program to include members with different areas of expertise. Hebert, an Alpharetta firefighter, is working on his nursing degree.
“The most rewarding part is when we realize we’ve helped somebody and they’re thankful,” Hebert said. “They come to know us more than ‘I’m a firefighter.’”
Reynolds said, “If I need something, I call and say ‘David, can you help me with this?’ And he always does.”
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