Beginning Tue., Feb. 14, Santa Rosa County residents calling 911 may make a new connection with the Nurse Navigation program, an innovative healthcare solution provided through Lifeguard Ambulance Service in Santa Rosa County in conjunction with Santa Rosa County Public Safety. The program provides options for quickly reaching the appropriate level of medical care when calling 911.

Residents will see no change in the 911 system for life-threatening emergencies. Calls made to 911 for urgent, life-threatening, or potentially life-threatening emergencies will result in the dispatching of a Lifeguard ambulance to assess symptoms and provide transport to a local hospital.

If a condition is determined not to be a medical emergency, callers will be transferred to a Nurse Navigator to determine an appropriate path for treatment and assist in coordinating care. This program gets community members to the right level of care for their needs. There is no cost to the caller to access the Nurse Navigation system.

Santa Rosa Nurse Navigators are licensed Florida nurses with professional experience in emergency nursing. They are also specially trained in the practice of telephone triage. After triaging the caller, the nurses can connect callers to clinics in Santa Rosa County, arrange transportation to and from appointments and notify a clinic when a patient is arriving. Nurse Navigators can also connect callers directly to telehealth physicians who can provide care and prescribe medication if necessary. The service does not require the caller to have medical insurance to access this service

“The Nurse Navigation program has proved to relieve pressure on EMS services, leaving critical ambulance resources available for the most life-threatening emergencies,” Jason Rogers, operations manager for Lifeguard. “This will also help manage the number of patients going to emergency rooms and cut down on wait time for patients.”

More information can be found on the Lifeguard Ambulance Service Facebook page or the Santa Rosa County Public Safety website, which includes FAQs about the program.

Questions can be directed to Santa Rosa County Communications Chief Scott Markel at 850-983-5249 or Lifeguard Ambulance Operations Manager Jason Rogers at 850-983-3000.

About Lifeguard Ambulance Service

Founded in 1990, Lifeguard Ambulance Service provides excellent clinical service and ground transportation to more than 160,000 patients each year. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., Lifeguard employs more than 1,150 dedicated caregivers across eight states.

Lifeguard and AMR are part of the Global Medical Response family of companies. Global Medical Response, Inc. is the industry-leading air, ground, specialty and residential fire services, and managed medical transportation organization. With more than 39,000 employees, GMR delivers compassionate, quality medical care, primarily in the areas of emergency and patient relocation services in the United States and around the world. For more information, visit www.globalmedicalresponse.com.