From left, Battalion Chief Scott Perryman, Metro Fire Department Director Cindy Saylors and Metro Fire Chief Adam House attended the Sept. 5 Lunch Bunch.

 

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - It’s not every day that you get to eat lunch with a fire chief.

On Sept. 5, the Tri-Communities Lunch Bunch of North Highlands, Rio Linda and the Sacramento area hosted Sacramento Metro Fire Chief Adam House and Battalion Chief Scott Perryman as its guest speakers at Brookfield’s Restaurant on Madison Avenue.  

Meeting once a month for nearly 50 years, the Lunch Bunch is a wide group of community members who are interested in networking, meeting new acquaintances and hearing a variety of prominent guest speakers, all while enjoying a delicious lunch.

House was introduced by Edward Jones Financial Advisor and Lunch Bunch host Patrick Magnani, who gave a brief background on both House and Perryman’s careers.

According to Magnani, House is a Sacramento native and graduated from Cordova High School in 1987. He has a 36-year tenure in public service, including four years in the Army serving as a firefighter. In 2000, he joined Sacramento Metro Fire and was named fire chief in August 2023.

Metro Fire Chief Adam House share the recent accomplishments of the Sacramento Metro Fire Department.

House began his speech by saying, “I couldn’t be more proud to say I am a Sacramento native.” Calling Metro Fire a “fine organization,” he provided a background of the fire department, the work they do and the advancements they are making toward providing 24/7 safety for all Sacramento residents.

According to House, Sacramento Metro Fire is the seventh largest fire department in the state of California.

“In the last 10 years, our call volume has doubled,” he said.

In fact, House stated that in 2023, the fire department received more than 100,000 calls to 911. The department is expecting 110,000 calls by the end of 2024.

“So, we have to look at doing other things, having other capabilities and providing additional services because today’s population demands that,” House said. “We have to evolve. We have to have a higher degree of capability.”

House emphasized that Sac Metro Fire must adapt to the growing demand of its services, predominantly concerning the fentanyl, mental health and homelessness crises. Those issues must now be addressed.

“I’ve made it a priority to get involved with every single player in Sacramento County and ask, ‘How do we think outside the box and get our resources together so we’re not working on islands?’” House said. “We’re collaborating like never before, and with the help of Supervisors Rich Desmond and Sue Frost, we’ve been able to exercise outside the normal funds of the fire department to get additional funding to incorporate help into the sensitive areas of today’s communities,” he said.

The result: Mobile Integrated Health, which is the first of its kind in the nation.

The premise behind the program is to make the emergency process easier, quicker and more affordable for all parties involved. Or, in House’s words, “Getting the right resource to the right call to have the right outcome to get them (the caller) to the right place.”

“You should be proud of your fire department,” House concluded.

The fire chief then introduced Battalion Chief Perryman to elaborate on the program, saying, “As firefighters, we need to be good human beings first. This (Perryman) is a good human being all the way around.”

Perryman began his career in 2002 as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and paramedic before joining Metro Fire in 2006 as a firefighter, according to Magnani. He was promoted to captain in 2013 and then battalion chief in 2022.

Perryman spoke further about the Mobile Integrated Health program, which was his creation.

“I’m really passionate about this project I’ve been working on because it affects so much,” Perryman said.

First, not every medical issue calls for a trip to the ER, according to Perryman. By utilizing Mobile Integrated Health, an on-scene nurse practitioner/physician’s assistant can treat, diagnose, write medications and communicate with the patient’s primary care provider, therefore saving both the first responder and the patient a lengthy (and oftentimes unnecessary) ER visit. This also allows officers to spend more time patrolling the streets rather than waiting in the ER with someone, which they do any time they use a taser on someone.

Perryman shared several stories of 911 callers that were repeatedly sent to the ER but found no solutions for their issues until the Mobile Integrated Health professionals were able to “go in and dig and find out what’s going on.”

“The person’s care is elevated,” Perryman said about Mobile Integrated Health.

“Think of the bills,” Perryman said, referring to the price of an ambulance, an ER visit, medications and more. Mobile Integrated Health is saving not only patients’, but insurance companies’ money, as well.

Battalion Chief Scott Perryman, left, and Metro Fire Chief Adam House share the recent accomplishments of the Sacramento Metro Fire Department.

According to Perryman, the program is currently funded by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and grant money, with funds to open another unit in South Sacramento. The existing one is located in North Sacramento.

The next step for Mobile Integrated Health would be the signing of SB1180, a bill awaiting Governor Newsom’s signature that would allow Mobile Integrated Health to bill for its services. According to Perryman, Mobile Integrated Health can currently only charge for the equivalent of a physician’s visit, which ranges from $100 to $150. Perryman emphasized that Mobile Integrated Health is “not here to make money” and they just want to “cover their costs.”

House joined Perryman to reiterate a few final points, and ended by saying, “We have to be adaptable visionaries that just can’t sit around on our heels and say all we do is fight fires. We have to be better than that.”

The Lunch Bunch meets the first Thursday of each month and welcomes anyone who is interested. The next meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 3 at Brookfield’s on Madison Avenue.

For more information about Sacramento Metro Fire, visit https://metrofire.ca.gov.