On Wednesday, March 27th, both Paramedic Wendy Walters and Chief Rielage represented WyomingFire – EMS at a meeting discussing ‘Community Paramedicine’ hosted by the University of Cincinnati. Over 50 state and local agencies from southwest and central Ohio as well as northern Kentucky took part. The object of the discussions was to prepare both public and private EMS and hospitals for the changing environment of pre-hospital care taking place with the advent of the Affordable Health Care Act in January, and to address the problem of those patients that frequently abuse the 911 system. Among the ideas discussed was the use of fire-based nurse practitioners or physician assistants either at fire station clinics or in mobile vehicles to make routine health visits. One of the stated goals was also to assist an aging population continue to care for themselves or their family in a home setting. Following the meeting, Paramedic Walters was interviewed by Local 12 reporter Jeff Hirsch and the story appeared on the evening news.