The Prisma Health Ambulance Service Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) Program demonstrates how community paramedicine can improve chronic disease and medication management in rural communities. As the sole Community Paramedic for Prisma Health Ambulance Service in Laurens County, South Carolina, Holly works directly within a rural health clinic, serving as a critical bridge between patients, clinic providers, EMS, and the broader healthcare system. With a team of 20 Community Paramedics serving approximately 13 counties across South Carolina and completing over 16,000 calls for service last year, Prisma Health’s MIH program supports chronic disease management, substance use disorder care, treat-in-place services, and readmission prevention.

Holly helps patients overcome barriers that can make chronic disease management difficult, providing wellness checks, facilitating clinic visits, and delivering care when transportation prevents patients from accessing traditional healthcare.

In one example, a patient struggling with diabetes and medication adherence was unable to reach the pharmacy or grocery store because of limited transportation and was relying on unhealthy gas-station food. The MIH team helped address the underlying transportation barrier, providing a practical way to access food and medications and regain greater independence in managing her health. Laurens County Memorial Hospital has reported record lows in unnecessary readmissions and ED bounce-backs, which hospital leadership attributes to the work of Community Paramedics in the area.

Holly Atkins and the Prisma Health MIH team demonstrate how addressing the practical barriers surrounding chronic disease can improve access, support medication adherence, and connect rural patients with the care they need. Her work exemplifies the patient-centered, community-based approach that makes MIH a powerful extension of the healthcare system.

The City of Olathe Fire Department’s Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) Program brings clinical care directly into the homes of residents who need support beyond a traditional 911 response. With a multidisciplinary team of APRNs and paramedics, the program serves frequent 911 callers and residents managing complex chronic conditions who face barriers to consistent healthcare, medication access, transportation, and primary care.

A cornerstone of the program is medication management, with MIH clinicians conducting in-home medication reconciliation, coordinating refills with providers and pharmacies, delivering medications to residents with mobility or transportation challenges. Through alignment with the Health Partnership Clinic and the University of Kansas Medical Center–Olathe Campus, the program helps connect residents to ongoing primary care and strengthens the bridge between emergency response and long-term health management.

For patients who once relied on 911 because they had run out of medications, could not afford prescriptions, or struggled to manage complex regimens, this support has contributed to sustained reductions in 911 calls year over year and allowed stabilized patients to transition to routine follow-up while opening MIH capacity for others in need. By addressing medication access and adherence alongside the social factors that influence chronic disease management, the Olathe Fire Department MIH Program demonstrates how EMS can help prevent avoidable emergencies, improve continuity of care, and support healthier, more independent communities.

Whitney’s leadership, together with the contributions of the entire MIH team—including Gary Taylor and Keith Burkhart—exemplifies the power of a fire-based MIH model grounded in partnership, practical intervention, and a commitment to doing “good things, daily.”