Lee Memorial program seeks to cut down on ER ‘super users’

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FORT MYERS, Fla.- Mary Giamartin went to an emergency room at various Lee Memorial hospitals at least three dozen times last year. She had no home, no doctor, no insurance and a severe alcohol problem.

“When I had pancreatitis brought on by alcohol, it was the worst pain I’ve ever endured,” Giamartin said.

Giamartin was one of more than 9,800 patients who visited Lee Memorial Health System’s emergency rooms multiple times in 2015.

“For the amount of time they had to spend me, I’m sure there’s somebody else out there that needed it a lot more,” Giamartin said.

Lee Memorial says the problem with frequent ER visitors, or “super users,” is getting worse every year.

“Over utilizing the emergency department does impact the care that others can’t receive because the beds are being occupied by those individuals,” said Heidy Shoriak with the Lee Memorial Health System.

Over the last three years, the super users have cost Lee Memorial Health System roughly $27 million. Now, Lee Memorial is working on a new program called ECHO (Extended Community Health Outreach), aimed specifically at super users.

“Our goal is really to help people break down barriers so they can get the health care that they need and be able to take care of themselves,” Shoriak said.

“They took care of medication, took care of transportation, if it wasn’t for their encouragement and their support and everything they’ve done for me, I would not be sitting here today,” Giamartin said, who is now 60 days sober and hasn’t been to an emergency room since December.

The ECHO program currently only has two case workers handling about 80 patients, but they’re working with the state and hope to have five case workers soon.

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