Rachel Hanz
When Adam Gatten joined the Jackson Township Fire Department 30 years ago, he never thought he would enjoy changing people’s smoke detectors and light bulbs.
However, since he started his new role as the community paramedic almost two years ago, the best part of Gatten’s day is when he gets to put a smile on someone’s face by helping solve problems when they don’t know who else to turn to.
With a great network of connections all across the city and central Ohio area, Gatten is making a difference in the lives of many, one person at a time.
Filling the gap
Gatten joined the field after taking some EMT classes during his last year in the Marine Corps and falling in love. Those classes led to an interest in being a first responder, which led to fire training and a career with the Jackson Township Fire Department.
After decades out in the field, Gatten was looking to help his community more directly, and that is when he took up his new role as the community paramedic.
The idea and field of community paramedicine, Gatten says, came about after changes to Medicare penalized hospitals and medical offices for having readmissions.
“We have a lot of senior citizens who have fall issues,” Gatten says. “As they’re getting older, they’re getting weaker. They’ve had injuries or sickness, and they’ll start to fall a lot, and that’s kind of our biggest thing that we do. I would ultimately say that what fire prevention is to the fire side of things, I am to EMS.”
With the goal to keep people in their homes and out of the hospital, Gatten is always out in his van helping community members with everything from installing bathroom grab bars and changing smoke detectors to organizing medications and passing out toiletries and food.
Network of connections
Rachel Hanz
Gatten regularly installs new smoke detectors and key lock boxes during his stops.
Although Gatten is mostly a one-man show at the fire department, he doesn’t do it all alone.
Throughout Grove City and the greater central Ohio area, Gatten has a network of community members, leaders and organizations he regularly connects with to help him get the best resources and care for anyone who calls in.
“Franklin County is pretty blessed with a lot of different resources. Between (groups such as) LifeCare Alliance and the Franklin County Office on Aging, those are some big ones that we can tap into,” Gatten says. “There’s a church out in Pickerington that has a huge durable medical equipment ministry that we can tap into if I need to.”
More locally, Gatten works with Teri Ruslander, a retired 30-plus-year veteran of the Grove City Police Department, who works as the elder services coordinator with the Grove City Division of Police and specializes in fraud prevention and cases for older adults.
There are also several local residents who share their expertise, ranging from online research to bargain hunting for medical equipment.
Growing the impact
With about two years under his belt, Gatten has already helped people connect with transportation services, fix 911 dispatcher connections and so many other calls, all with the hope to help even more people.
Thanks to all of the people he works with, Gatten has a stockpile of home equipment – such as bidets, key boxes and shower heads – as well as protective undergarments, blankets and more. With all of those items and more constantly on the way, he is working to find additional storage space so he can house and organize everything.
Although Gatten knows he always has someone to turn to for additional resources and help, he sometimes finds himself trying to be in too many places at once.
“I’ve got such a workload that another person would be greatly beneficial,” Gatten says. “Sometimes I get so many calls in, what I need is somebody to work here and let me go out and do the things. I need a dispatcher and somebody who can do the paperwork and make the phone calls to set up the schedules.”
Lastly, and most importantly, Gatten hopes to increase awareness about his existence and what he can help with. He attends various fairs and meetings throughout the area, but he says word of mouth can only get him so far when trying to reach people who really need his help.
“I’ve got a (lot of) compassion for our elderly community,” Gatten says. “There’s a percentage of them that people don’t even know exists, just because they’re so shut in. So that’s kind of my niche. I try to help them out.”
Rachel Karas is the lead editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at rkaras@cityscenemediagroup.com.
