By Hannah Kaufman
Morning Sentinel
WATERVILLE, Maine 鈥� When paramedic Cormick Frizzell enters a home, he isn鈥檛 necessarily looking for blood, smoke or flames.
He鈥檚 assessing the things that could lead to a 911 call: Slippery rugs, empty fridges, uneven steps, unpaid bills. Medication without a pill organizer. Signs of dizziness or loneliness.
Frizzell works for Waterville鈥檚 community paramedicine program, one of only a few in Maine. But after an April 10 federal grant freeze, those programs are at risk of collapse. With primary care waning and Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville closing in June, community paramedics offering a preventive solution to the region鈥檚 health care crisis could be next to fall.
Losing the program would harm residents without regular access to health care, Frizzell said.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a huge blow to our citizens, especially as the program is getting used more and more. A lot of people in their homes may not get the services they need, they may not be following their medication regimen, which leads to further risk,鈥� Frizzell said. 鈥淟osing that funding, I think it鈥檇 be harmful. We鈥檇 always be reactive to 911 鈥� we could never be proactive, getting out in the field and helping people before they ever have to have an emergency.鈥�
Because community paramedicine is still a new field, the majority of programs across Maine are funded through grants. Maine EMS sought applications early in 2025, and on March 12 awarded $103,000 in federally funded grants to Waterville Fire Rescue and Topsham Fire and Rescue, as well as $96,400 to the Portland Fire Department.
The grants were terminated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, effective March 24, said Soliana Goldrich, community paramedicine coordinator for Maine EMS.
鈥淭he grant funds were important to both support initiating programs and expanding programs,鈥� Goldrich said. 鈥淲ithout these funds, agencies will have to look at other opportunities to sustain programs.鈥�
The loss of the $103,000 grant is crippling, Chief Jason Frost of the Waterville Fire Department, said.
鈥淭his is a big deal to keep people out of the hospital,鈥� Frost said in mid-April. 鈥淎nd we actually had received the grant, and with that grant, we were going to put on a full-time community paramedicine worker that would really help with this area. And I was going Tuesday night to have it all signed and everything, and the federal government pulled it from us.鈥�
Why community paramedicine?
Waterville鈥檚 community paramedicine program has served nearly 200 patients since it started in February 2024, preventing accidents that would otherwise put patients in hospital beds while matching people with health and social services.
The program employs 10 part-time community paramedics, most working eight-hour shifts when they have a break from regular 24-hour firefighting or paramedic shifts.
Amy Bertone, medical director of Northern Light Walk -in Care and Waterville鈥檚 community paramedicine program, said without other funding opportunities, the program will run out of money in six to eight months 鈥� crippling an already fragile health care system in central Maine.
鈥淚f we were to lose this invaluable program that allows us to be more proactive, the community would instead see even more of a reactive impact, such as an increased use of urgent cares and emergency rooms resulting in longer wait times,鈥� Bertone said. 鈥淎nd increased hospitalizations, which would then make it more difficult for those to access such services when truly needed.鈥�
The department transported more than 900 patients to Inland last year, but the hospital鈥檚 closure means ambulances will have to drive to Augusta or Skowhegan, straining emergency resources. Frost said funding a full-time paramedic through the grant could have conserved resources and hospital beds for those in dire need.
鈥淭hat was something else we were going to throw at this big mess, and hope that it would help kind of alleviate some of it,鈥� Frost said. 鈥淏ecause right now, a lot of times we鈥檙e picking up patients and taking them to the hospital, when really, sometimes they don鈥檛 need to be going to the ER. But when somebody calls 911, we don鈥檛 have a choice, by law.鈥�
Community paramedics receive patient referrals from hospitals or primary care providers before setting up free, in-home visits to patients. While most patients live in Waterville, paramedics also visit patients in neighboring Winslow, Albion and Fairfield.
Frost said the program provides medical assistance for people who can鈥檛 leave their homes.
鈥淲e do blood draws, we鈥檒l take vitals, we鈥檒l take them to the doctor鈥檚 offices,鈥� Frost said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l help people with med reconciliation, so if they don鈥檛 have their meds, we can go pick them up for them. We鈥檒l make sure we put them in their pill bottles, make sure they鈥檙e taking them correctly, make sure their house is safe.鈥�
That checklist is part of the program鈥檚 fall assessment and home safety evaluation, services that are increasingly important in the state鈥檚 aging population. Maine is the oldest state in the country, with 22.9% of the population 65 years of older, according to 2023 census data.
Just listening to patients can prevent future accidents, said Elizabeth Reeves, Topsham鈥檚 full-time community paramedic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really about respecting them in their space,鈥� Reeves said. 鈥淭he most important thing is listening to them, because a lot of times, when a person goes to a doctor鈥檚 office, they either go in all dressed up and just flat-out lie and tell them everything鈥檚 fine, or they can鈥檛 articulate what it is they need or where their shortcomings are in terms of their healthcare. And so we鈥檙e trying to get to the root of that.鈥�
Preventing emergencies through social work
Many community paramedics build relationships with patients after visiting them regularly over time. Frizzell said he regularly visits an 11-month-old boy in Waterville who has high risk for pneumonia and is often in and out of the emergency room.
Amanda Skomurski of Waterville, who takes care of the boy, said having community paramedics check on him weekly is comforting. Cutting the program would hurt his quality of care, she said.
鈥淚 like when paramedicine comes in and checks on him,鈥� Skomurski said. 鈥淭hey come and check on him every Monday, just to take his vitals. They really get to know the faces, so they know his setup, and they know him, and they鈥檒l get to come and see him. But cutting that: It will take away them coming into the house, getting accustomed to him.鈥�
Those community paramedicine visits have equipped Frizzell to better respond to 911 calls when the boy has an emergency.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been great to already know him,鈥� Frizzell said. 鈥淜now him when he鈥檚 at his baseline, but then also know what he looks like when he鈥檚 sick and what symptoms he typically is going to present with, and being able to hear his lung sounds when he鈥檚 healthy and then be able to compare them to him when he鈥檚 ill. It鈥檚 been really great to get to know a lot of the higher-risk patients.鈥�
The boy is one of hundreds of patients to lose primary care when Inland closes. Losing that service is especially devastating for people who are unhoused, said David Sovetsky, director of Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville.
Waterville鈥檚 community paramedics visit the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter every Friday at 1 p.m., providing wound care and services. The shelter, which is open year-round, can shelter up to 100 people on a given night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been invaluable,鈥� Sovetsky said. 鈥淭hey provide a lot of wound care on any given Friday. They鈥檝e been able to help with our guests, providing wound care to as many as four people in one visit. If some of our folks are sick, they can check on them and see if they need further care. A lot of times it鈥檚 treatment that some of our folks wouldn鈥檛 be able to get yet, because they don鈥檛 currently have primary care.鈥�
Across Maine, community paramedics fill gaps in social services, providing cost-free care while helping patients secure their own primary care providers, housing and assisted living arrangements.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing what鈥檚 out there for free for people and they don鈥檛 realize it,鈥� Reeves said. 鈥淛ust matching them up with things that they aren鈥檛 even aware are available to them.鈥�
Cuts across the state
Reeves has helped 600 patients since the dawn of Topsham鈥檚 program in 2023. The $103,000 grant was intended to supply her with a cardiac monitor and vehicle, which she currently borrows from other paramedics and is forced to return when a rescue call comes in, often interrupting home visits.
Still, Topsham is better off than most municipalities, Fire Chief Chris McLaughlin said. Because of the program鈥檚 success over the last two years, he said the town is willing to fund the full-time paramedic position rather than relying on grant funding.
鈥� Topsham鈥檚 in a good position where we鈥檙e going to ask to have this funded and the townspeople can decide whether they want to fund it or not,鈥� McLaughlin said. 鈥淏ut the communities that are just starting, this money is essential to start a program, because how do you go to your council or your board and say: 鈥楬ey, this program is great, but we have no measurable outcomes to give you. We have no data.鈥欌��
Portland is still working to collect that data. The city鈥檚 Mobile Medical Outreach program is a pilot program founded in 2021 to serve a large population facing homelessness and substance abuse disorder. The program had finally begun cycling toward community paramedicine in 2024, said Chief Sean Donaghue of Portland鈥檚 EMS and training department, who planned to use the grant toward community paramedicine training initiatives for 25 paramedics.
Now, progress is halted, he said. Donaghue said he hopes funding will be freed up again so his program can continue to move toward in-home care like in Topsham and Waterville.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the beauty of community paramedicine, is that it can move some of those interactions into a non-urgent environment where you can just kind of sit with someone and say, 鈥楬ow do I help you?鈥欌�� Donaghue said. 鈥淎nd the ED can鈥檛 always do that, because they could have a lot of people in the waiting room, and they don鈥檛 really have the tools.鈥�
Since he was released from the hospital in October, the 11-month-old boy in Waterville has been transported by LifeFlight and in a high-risk ambulance, and bounced between emergency rooms. He needs the regular in-home care that community paramedics provide, Skomurski said.
鈥淭hey know where everything is,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey know we have animals, they know the setup, they know what door to come in. So I think it saves a little bit of time, if there was an actual emergency where he wasn鈥檛 breathing, if it was really serious 鈥� I feel like that would make it easier and save them time.鈥�
Frost said the department will give a presentation May 6 to the Waterville City Council about what community paramedicine has meant to the community.
If Waterville鈥檚 program runs out of funding, Frizzell said many residents won鈥檛 get the care they need.
鈥淚t would unfortunately be devastating,鈥� Frizzell said. 鈥淭his is a program we want to grow, and offer more to our citizens. I think this is a thing that we do need in our state, more and more, so to have a big setback with losing our funding, I think, would set us all back quite a bit.鈥�
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