Dan Hoffman: 0:11

Hello and welcome to the Rouse Review. I'm City Manager Dan Hoffman and with me is Sarah Fry, the PIO.

Sarah Frey: 0:16

Hi everybody.

Dan Hoffman: 0:17

We are back from the summer break. Uh, although obviously, yeah, it's true. Everyone's kind of back now. Last week the county kids went back. No, no, no, they're next. They're this Thursday. They start later this week. They're starting later this week. City, oh, city, yes, that's right. City kids are today. And it's kind of the end of recess for All of us too here at City Hall. July is a quiet month. There's, council takes a break for a couple of weeks and people are on, you know, typically it's a common time for vacations and stuff like that. So it's, it's a nice, quiet, incredibly hot month.

Sarah Frey: 0:59

So, so, so hot.

Dan Hoffman: 1:00

So hot every day. I, I am looking forward to fall more than any year, uh, that I can recollect. So we're one step closer. Uh, it is August, so we still are gonna have some more heat. Uh, I hope everybody enjoyed, um, or may I should enjoyed. I hope everybody made it through the rain. Uh, last week, um, and are ready to get back to, to school. So, uh, keep an eye out for those kids out there on their way to school. Uh, and if you're not too busy getting everybody back to school, uh, come join us tomorrow night at we'll be, we are back at the public services building. We thought we would be back in city hall. For those of you who aren't aware, for the last two months, we've been doing all of our public meetings over at the public services campus, um, because it's ADA accessible because in city hall, the elevator, which has been malfunctioning for years is being replaced. So that's not a small project. It takes months. Uh, sometimes in this one is taking now two months. We're now. Um, past the two month point, um, to, on the elevator.

Sarah Frey: 2:15

But how healthy are city staff?

Dan Hoffman: 2:16

Oh my goodness. We've all been taking the stairs and I, it is miserable. I, I cannot, and I should be able, I, I can take the stairs. I'm, I know it's good for me and I, and it's, it's great that it's made possible. to take the stairs if they can, but I'm really looking forward to being back into council or normal council chambers for meetings. So thank you. If you want to come to our meeting tomorrow night, go out to the Public Services Campus. It's off Cork. You'll see signs, uh, it's air conditioned, it's nice, it does the job, um, but I'm looking forward to getting back to City Hall. So, yeah, tomorrow night, Council meeting over at City Yards. Uh, go to the website if you need more details on how to get there. Um, or, which, uh, includes a couple of topics, one of which has generated a significant amount of conversation. Um, and that is the utility billing question. So, I will say, had I thought that the concept of going to monthly billing was going to, um, create so much, So many questions because I think this is the only bill of my personal bills that I get bimonthly. So going to monthly billing, um, seems to be evidently a foreign concept for some reason. Um, and honestly, this is not something that, um, we as staff have a strong preference about. If you want to get this bill monthly, like every other bill you get, We put the question in front of council because we are being forced to make some changes because of the state to our billing system. And while we're at it, we can make the change to go to monthly. Yes, we'll mail out some more things and it, it costs on an annual basis about 36, about 36, 000 more every year, um, which is a very, very small amount and would not result in an increase in your bills. It can be absorbed by the, um, by the, the water utility. It's not 36, 000 that I could be spending on something else. It's the utilities money. That money stays with the utility. Um, so if the, if the residents wanted the convenience. Of getting monthly billing. We asked the question. Council, uh, did not want to make the decision. They wanted to ask the public what they thought about it. Um, and you know, tomorrow night you're going to hear that the public does not want monthly billing. There was a survey that was put out. I'm not going to say it is not a scientific, scientifically accurate survey. It is just one of your standard old, we put the word out, tell us what you think survey. Uh, we did get a lot of responses.

Sarah Frey: 5:11

A lot.

Dan Hoffman: 5:12

A lot of them. Yeah.

Sarah Frey: 5:13

Yep.

Dan Hoffman: 5:15

Because a lot of people thought this was going to increase their bills somehow. Um, so, we won't, it's highly likely, tomorrow night we'll know what council decides, but I get the sense we're going to be sticking with bimonthly billing, which is absolutely fine by us. We just wanted to ask the question. We don't, we Not ask council what they want just because we're worried about the answer. So we'll find out what council says tomorrow night. Um, if they follow what the survey results are, nothing's gonna change. So, uh, there you go. That's probably the most high. Um. High profile item of the evening is whether or not we get monthly bills for your water now The other there is um, I think I believe there is a land use issue Oh, oh, i'm sorry. Not a land use issue. There is an mou with the schools the superintendent will be there to Uh help discuss that in essence. It is just an update to the mou That allows the city i'm sorry allows wps To use any money they haven't spent on their capital needs. So replacing carpet replacing chairs painting Stuff like that. They've used it for a variety of things in the past Um, so council is going to discuss that and then there's an exec session about some contracts for the city attorney and myself We are still searching for a new city attorney So, uh, that, it's really more of an update for council in that process, but, um, yes, if you know somebody that wants to be our city attorney, send them our way. Uh, and with that, that is what we have going on tomorrow night at city yards. So we're going to take a quick break. We're going to talk about what's coming up, uh, and then we're going to bring in Ashley Hoffman, no relation, uh, to talk about our community paramedic program.

Sarah Frey: 7:10

Welcome back to the rouse review. Now we're talking about what's going on in the city.

Dan Hoffman: 7:15

Wow, you, this is a new voice for you.

Sarah Frey: 7:17

It's because I'm sick.

Dan Hoffman: 7:19

I was gonna say, this is your sick voice.

Sarah Frey: 7:20

I was gonna say, it's a lot deeper.

Dan Hoffman: 7:22

Alright, here we go, let's get to it.

Sarah Frey: 7:24

Alright, Saturday mornings at Ralph's are back, starting on August 25th. So later in the show, you're going to hear from Ashley Hoffman, our amazing community paramedic. But on the 24th, you can stop by and meet her in person and get a deep dive and learn more about the program right here at City Hall. Ashley is fantastic.

Dan Hoffman: 7:41

Yeah. Come by, stop it out. Stop, stop it out. We're clearly we're muddling our way through this folks. Come by, meet Ashley. She's fantastic. Even if you don't feel like you need. The service of the community paramedic, you might know someone who does.

Sarah Frey: 7:57

Think about your aunts and uncles, your co workers. Your mom. Right, that person you go to church with. You never know.

Dan Hoffman: 8:06

Yes. So come on by, 10 o'clock.

Sarah Frey: 8:08

10 o'clock on the 24th. All right, next up. There's some exciting new stuff happening over at Parks and Rec, including some new fitness classes. Awesome. So, this is new to their ongoing repertoire of yoga, Pilates, and Zumba, but they are adding in later this month, interval fitness training on Wednesday mornings at 745, a strength and tone class on Fridays at 745 AM. And then a seated seniors class. So if you don't think that you can handle the high intensity, you can have a seat while you do your exercises. And those are going to be Mondays at 11am and then Wednesdays and Fridays at noon. And all of that's just included in a daily fee or membership.

Dan Hoffman: 8:48

Yeah. So gold, the membership over at the park is a fantastic value. So I definitely encourage you to take advantage of that. But if you're not a regular park user, you can pay the daily fee.

Sarah Frey: 9:02

Which is, I believe, five dollars on the most standard basis. Oh, yeah. There's discounts for everybody though. All right, and then last but certainly not least, today was the first day of school for the city. So as you're driving around town, please be so extra cautious as our kids are walking to school, getting on and off the bus. Just please pay extra, extra, extra careful attention to our most basic needs. Important to people.

Dan Hoffman: 9:24

And don't speed through school zones.

Sarah Frey: 9:27

Please don't do that either. That's a

Dan Hoffman: 9:29

bad thing.

Sarah Frey: 9:30

Also, don't pass buses when the stop arm is out.

Dan Hoffman: 9:32

Exactly. It's illegal to do that. If you do it, you should pay the ticket because you did wrong. If you want to complain about the legality of speed cameras, go talk to someone else. Go talk to an attorney. If you speed in a school zone, you've broken the law. You should get a ticket. Yes. You've put kids in danger, so please don't do it.

Sarah Frey: 10:00

It's not for very long of any day.

Dan Hoffman: 10:03

It's just, they're not even active during normal, they're only active during certain hours. Pick up and drop off, that's all it is. So if you can't control your car in a school zone, Do better. Do better, folks.

Sarah Frey: 10:21

All right. And with that, we just hope all our students and teachers are having a fantastic first week.

Dan Hoffman: 10:25

Yeah. Sorry. This is also the Dan coming off, uh, coming off a cold, um, worried about students getting to school. So, uh, yes. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome all the students and teachers. Uh, I am very excited to have my kid back in school. Aren't we all? Uh, and being productive. So, uh, welcome back to school, everybody. Let's make sure they get there safe. All right, welcome Ashley Hoffman. Hoffman with two N's. Not Hoffman with one N like me. No relation. I did not hire my spouse or family member, everybody. Now that's the first question in a small town someone's gonna ask. Oh, city manager hired his friend, his family member. Um, no, Ashley Hoffman, sitting next to me. As far as I'm aware, is no relation to me. She has, uh, the additional N on her name. She paid more for that. Um, I, I was cheap. I only could afford one N when I was born. So she's Ashley Hoffman with two N's. Um, and most importantly, Ashley Hoffman is our new community paramedic. And we are super excited cause it took us a while to find the right person. Uh, you know, we had, uh, Rob that started it off. Rob did a good job. Got the ball rolling. Um, he took a position elsewhere. He had some family issues and he was, uh, had to go tend to those. So it's been a little while since we had our community paramedic position filled and we are incredibly excited to have somebody as fantastic as Ashley. Uh, here with us. So, uh, welcome Ashley. First off, tell us a little bit about where you're from and, uh, introduce yourself to Winchester.

Ashley Hoffmann: 12:22

Oh, so I'm actually a native of Winchester. Oh, wow. Yeah, I grew up in Frederick County. It wasn't until my adulthood, I took a career in Berkeley County, West Virginia, working for the Ambulance Authority for a number of years. Uh, once I grew my family, I took a more normal, a Monday through Friday position at Summit Point Training Facility, uh, running their emergency services department. Um, after some time there, I wanted some new challenges and I found myself here as I bring my, uh,

Dan Hoffman: 12:50

Awesome. Awesome. So you've been in this business for how long?

Ashley Hoffmann: 12:54

Uh, 20 years.

Dan Hoffman: 12:55

20 years. And how long as a paramedic?

Ashley Hoffmann: 12:57

12.

Dan Hoffman: 12:58

Excellent. Excellent. Um, so you were looking for a new challenge, there are challenges all over the place. Why Winchester?

Ashley Hoffmann: 13:07

I think this opportunity was unique. I had my former job while I was a director of emergency services. director of health and safety, and that provided a lot of great opportunity, but kind of took me away from the emergency services aspect. So after some, uh, great collaboration and projects that were completed there, I felt it was time to get back to my roots of emergency services and the community paramedic programs nationally are starting to start. pop up everywhere. And we are one of 17 of those in the state of Virginia, the city of Winchester is. So, uh, hearing that you all had an opportunity available, I took that upon myself to do some research and it sounded very intriguing, not just the ability to build something and help the community, but also give back to where I grew up. Awesome. It's like,

Dan Hoffman: 13:53

it's almost like someone's asked you this question before. So you're, for those who don't know, Um, cause the community paramedic program for us is new, I think it's on its second year roughly now. Um, tell us a little bit about what it is, give us a little refresher for those who don't know what the community paramedic program is, give us a little refresher on what it is.

Ashley Hoffmann: 14:16

So the community paramedic program is embedded within the fire and rescue department here in Winchester. It allows us the opportunity to receive referrals from our field staff, uh, when they're going into homes and caring for people, uh, during a time of need. If they notice that, that they need additional resources, uh, that may have particularly prevented or could prevent future calls. Um, and what they're assessing when they go in and, and, uh, going into these residences is not just the, um, medical aspect, but other social detriments that may, uh, be affecting them, uh, food insecurities, lack of insurance or medical care in general, uh, utility issues, housing assistance, all of those things, um, and not just the referrals from our field staff, but our community partners, whether those are the non profits we work with, Valley Health, um, even within our city itself, Parks and Rec, uh, when ready. Yeah. We receive them. But, uh, the goal is, is once we receive those referrals is to, um, reach out to those people, explain to them what our initiative and efforts are and align them with the resources necessary, uh, to live a healthier lifestyle and get the things that they need.

Dan Hoffman: 15:26

This is the best explanation I've heard of it so far.

Sarah Frey: 15:29

I wasn't going to say that. Somebody had said that to me the first time I asked what it was.

Dan Hoffman: 15:32

Yeah, really? I've been trying to explain this to people for two years. I think I'm just going to record, play this recording back for people when they ask me the question. That was fantastic.

Ashley Hoffmann: 15:39

And it's funny, I'm still trying to refine it. I I still feel like I can't like really capture the true essence. That's

Dan Hoffman: 15:44

a pretty good pitch. I mean, obviously, um, you know, the, for the folks who receive these services, you know, it's, it is whatever they experience. Cause it can be a lot of different things to different people. To your point, some people need transportation, some people need food security. Um, we don't, and I should point out other than when ready, you know, we don't, Like the city, a lot of times people are like, well, if it's food, the city has to, no, no, no, we don't, we, not only do we not pick which grocery store should go in town, uh, we do not have food to distribute to people unless it's a, some type of, uh, you know, emergency situation. So we work with partners and that's one of the things that this program does. It works with a lot of the existing nonprofit partners in town to make sure that people have access to those services and then ultimately reduce their dependence on 9 1 1 to your point. Uh, so tell us about some of the partners you, that you've been. Making the rounds meet a lot of the different partners in town. Tell us about some of the folks you've been talking to

Ashley Hoffmann: 16:44

Oh, I've met a lot of wonderful people This community is very fortunate to have the amount of resources that it that it does to pick from and in throughout the city for ease of access to people Internally we work closely with the public police department and their interdiction team for substance abuse, other peer recovery specialists as well. We work with social services in regards to making sure that people are getting those needs met, whether it's getting benefits or, you know, doing certain reporting to see that they're getting resources they need. Valley Health, I've developed a really good relationship with them as well in helping align as people are being discharged, seeing that they're doing the appropriate follow up care and that somebody's checking in on them as needed. Uh, our non profits, CCAP, uh, Family Promise, uh, those are just a few that, that come off the top of my head that I've been working with a lot. Uh, the Rescue Mission as well. And then in faith based organizations, there's a lot of churches in the community that may provide utility assistance, food, uh, shelter assistance, all of those type of things. So I do have to say, um, it is a blessing that you all have all this, but it's also a lot to take in, right? Because, um, you don't want to miss any of those resources and you want to make sure if they're taking the time to provide that we're utilizing them as much as possible.

Dan Hoffman: 18:00

Absolutely. So if you get a referral, tell me about the process.

Ashley Hoffmann: 18:04

Okay. If somebody gets a referral, whether that's via a phone call or through our software system for the, um, The field staff. Yeah. Once we receive them, uh, I get them, we review, we see what those needs are, and then, uh, you're assigned a case manager. Right now, that is, uh, there's just two of us, myself and Shannon Atkinson Ganneau, she's part time, uh, but we kind of divvy up those people, and then we do an assessment to see what those needs are, and then we visit them in their home, and we sit, and we, we do more like an intake process, and then once we see what they're willing to participate in, again, this is a voluntary thing, right? Yeah. Um, Then we go back and we start networking and plugging into those resources and getting them aligned with the people. And then there's additional follow up with that. Some of, some of our citizens may have trouble reading, writing, um, disabilities that maybe they can't do the complete follow through. So part of our goal, once we're doing intake and putting a plan in place, is seeing that that follow through occurs to make a more successful outcome for them.

Dan Hoffman: 19:08

Someone has, someone has been referred. They've gone through the intake process, you've connected them with services. Tell me about how that, how the off ramp works.

Ashley Hoffmann: 19:19

As far as getting them like graduated through?

Dan Hoffman: 19:22

How do we graduate through?

Ashley Hoffmann: 19:23

So it's depending on their needs, right? Some may have more significant than others. Some may have multiple things that we're trying to deal with. It might not just be one thing. So depending on their willingness to participate, right? Because again, it's voluntary. Um, But seeing as these resources are being implemented, the time frame that we're able to deliver them to, because like everybody else, depending on the need, there might be a more significant

Dan Hoffman: 19:48

weight. A lot of these are very deeply rooted social determinants that, you know, they don't get fixed overnight. Just, you know.

Ashley Hoffmann: 19:55

Just

Dan Hoffman: 19:55

bringing someone a little, uh, you know, a bag of food does not solve food insecurity. No,

Ashley Hoffmann: 20:00

it doesn't. So what we do is we try to gauge once we've done the intake and we get the resources lined up, we try to gauge and see the time of delivery and then as they're being delivered, see how that's affecting that person. Are we seeing the upright turn in the path that they're taking? that they're going. Is that in the right direction? Or do we kind of need to re strategize right and kind of maybe refocus or try another approach? Um, if it's not successful, um, over time, we just kind of see if they're being if there's positive improvement, that's when we kind of just dial back. But again, graduating can in the terms of The software that we use can mean a lot of different things for people. Um, I kind of would like to reframe that terminology because sometimes what happens is once they graduate they may be good for three or six months or even maybe a year, but what I'm seeing as I came into your program and I reviewed the. Over 239 people that have been through the program, um, there have been some people that have kind of fallen back again, so we need to revisit. So that's part of the strategy that I'm creating as we're revamping the program a little bit is doing those post graduation followups to ensure that they're on the right path so that we're not finding out after they've already suffered another medical incident or, or something else that causes them some hard times.

Dan Hoffman: 21:18

That's really good. It's really good. So tell me about you've been doing this for a while. You're 20 years in the field and you're, you've seen kind of the state of things here in Winchester with our nonprofit community, um, with our, you know, vulnerable populations, which is the folks you work with. Tell me a little bit about how you see us relative to some other jurisdictions. Like in terms of need and service delivery capacity.

Ashley Hoffmann: 21:53

There's three main categories and and really there's a fourth that's kind of coming in here that that we're tend to that we're Focusing on right now. That's our senior or aging population especially with falls We're dealing with substance abuse In whether that be opioid or alcoholism The third thing is chronic disease management to meaning your diabetes COPD and the fourth thing That's kind of crept up that I think You Need some particular attention to help our help. Our area residents is homelessness Rather that is via the fact that financially they couldn't continue to write So again, we're trying to align them with resources to prevent that from happening, but sometimes it is inevitable So those are the the four things within our area I think with our program that we're really focusing hard on right now that will hopefully feed back into that reduction in 9 1 1 calls But also for a healthier, you know Yeah. Better wellness.

Dan Hoffman: 22:53

A healthy community. A more healthy community. Absolutely. The

Ashley Hoffmann: 22:57

thing with the program again is um, it's not just about intervening once it's happened but it's prevention. Right? So either heading it off before it happens. It's meant to be

Dan Hoffman: 23:05

proactive. Yeah. So of the, you know, we're seven, now that I'm asking you to rank the 17 community paramedic programs uh, in the state, but like where do you think we're at in our program? maturity cycle

Ashley Hoffmann: 23:17

Um, I well I will say we are one of the smaller jurisdictions. Uh, some of so chesterfield. I just actually left a Meeting with them. I think they're over 300 000 in their population. Whereas here we're at 28 29

Dan Hoffman: 23:31

28 000 and change

Ashley Hoffmann: 23:33

Yeah, and these are departments that have you know, 20 30 fire stations with 280, you know employees on top of volunteers, right? So we're a much smaller scale and more intimate area of nine square miles. And like I said, 20, 29, 000, I believe is the population here. So, um, I do think that we have some maturing and cultivation to do, but the beauty of community paramedicine or mobile integrated health as you'll hear that those two terms kind of used together. Um, not just here, but nationally is that this is such a new thing in each community is so different and diverse, um, that the state has kind of left it up to ourselves to create programs that best suit our needs. Um, and I will say, I have yet to find a community care Our size that I can relatively Compare us to I'll

Dan Hoffman: 24:24

take that as we're the best.

Ashley Hoffmann: 24:26

Yeah,

Dan Hoffman: 24:26

that's how i'm gonna i'm gonna interpret that as yes Yeah, we we're leading the way yet again

Ashley Hoffmann: 24:31

yeah, I and I and I do think we are with our approach and I think again, that's what kind of makes us unique because um being 17 and like I said Some of those cities or county jurisdictions being much larger I think we have a unique opportunity to show the smaller jurisdictions within our state how to do it

Dan Hoffman: 24:50

There you go.

Sarah Frey: 24:50

Being a leader.

Dan Hoffman: 24:51

Oh my goodness. Yeah. Okay. I could not end on a better note. Um, Ashley, thank you very much, uh, for coming in. If you or someone you know, I mean, if you're listening to this and you need this service, cool.

Ashley Hoffmann: 25:09

Yeah.

Dan Hoffman: 25:09

Like, like if you're, if you're listening to this podcast about city business, uh, you probably already know where to find some services. So really this is for the folks out there who you've got that neighbor. You've got that, um, You know, mom. You've got that, um, Co worker. Co worker. There you go. That you know is struggling. That you know, um, has limitations. And You know, a lot of, a lot of your clients are isolated. You know, a lot of these folks are aging in place. They don't have a strong network, support network. In fact, in most cases, they have absolutely no support network. So, if you know somebody like that, um, it, you know, it doesn't hurt to ask. Absolutely not. It does not hurt to, to connect them. There's no obligation. This is not a forced relationship. service we charge for. This is something that everybody in the city of Winchester has access to. So if you know somebody that could benefit from this, if you know somebody who is trying to stay in their home, but you know, there's been a lot of slip and falls and, or if you know somebody who, um, maybe is struggling with, you know, the early onsets of Alzheimer's or dementia and they're forgetting to take their medicine all the time. So they keep going to the hospital. to the doctor, um, because they've forgotten to take their medicine. All of those little signs are the kinds of things that, um, should Indicate to you that they could benefit from this service. Mm-Hmm, So if somebody wanted to contact you to get more information, how do they do that?

Ashley Hoffmann: 26:50

They can call our office at(540) 662-2298 and ask for the community paramedic program.

Dan Hoffman: 26:57

There you go. Super easy. 5 4 0 6 6 2 2 2 9 8. Thank you very much, Ashley. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Okay, that's all we have for this edition of the Rouse Review. Our next one is a little bit later this month. We don't have a topic yet, but I promise you, it's going to be fantastic. It's going to be amazing. Stay tuned, and until then, we'll see you around City Hall.