Nearly nine months later, Ogden Fire Chief Mike Slater and Angelina Watkins, who took on the new role of homeless medical advocate — the first one in the state serving with a municipal fire department, spoke with the Standard-Examiner about the pioneering position and where it will go nearly a full year after implementation.

Slater said the position came about because of an abundance of 911 calls from the Lantern House in Ogden.

“As a city, we saw the homeless shelter was our number one call for service,” he said. “Not all of the time was it emergency medicine needed. We thought outside of the box, worked with the Homeless Council down in Salt Lake and we developed this idea to have an advocate just at the Lantern House.”

In came Watkins.

“They decided to basically create my position and put me there as an EMT Monday-Friday to cut down on the 911 calls,” she said. “Instead of them just picking up the phone to call 911, they come to my office, I fix them and they go on their way.”

She said a lot of what she does is preventative care.

“A lot of them will call 911 just for basic needs because they don’t have a car, they don’t have a bus pass, they’re not going to walk up to McKay-Dee or Ogden Regional,” she said. “Say they have a bad ulcer on their leg. They need to get it taken care of but they have no way to the hospital so they would call 911 for that. So now, they all know me and they all know what I do and they all know what I’m capable of. They come to me, I will patch their leg up, I’ll do basic wound care on a day-to-day basis for them changing bandages and whatnot. A lot of what I do is preventative.”

Slater said Watkins has an office at the Lantern House where she is able to see patients about medicine or other minor medical care. If there is need for an emergency response, she can start treatment right away while summoning additional resources.

“Emergencies still happen there,” Slater said. “People still get sick and need 911 and our crews still respond. Now our first responder is Ange; she’s there.”

He said that the department is already noticing a major difference.

“It’s been a fantastic program,” he said. “We’ve seen a 25% decrease in the amount of people going from the Lantern House to the emergency department. We did sign an MOU with the Midtown Clinic who runs the Hope Clinic at he Lantern House, so if somebody needs to go see a doctor, then Ange can arrange that. She puts them in her vehicle and takes them to the doctor at the Midtown Clinic, taking that burden off of the 911 system and taking that burden off of the emergency departments.”

Slater said that while other cities have their own programs assisting unhoused populations with medical care, the position at the Ogden City Fire Department is unique.

“Every city that has a shelter has some kind of approach to homelessness,” he said. “The key to success for us was we wanted to meet them where they are. You look at Salt Lake where they’ve got the Fourth Street Clinic and the homeless can come to the clinic and they can see a physician or a nurse. Not a lot of places have the ability to insert the fire department inside of the homeless center, which is what we’ve done.”

In the 10 months since Watkins started, the role has also evolved to help get some people into long-term care as needed.

“Some of the homeless that are elderly need ot be in a skilled nursing facility or a nursing home,” Slater said. “They don’t know how to apply for Medicare. They don’t know how to apply for assistance. They and our homeless services advocate work hand-in-hand together and they’re able to get them into long-term care.”

Watkins estimates she’s helped get nine people into long-term care such as nursing homes.

Slater said other fire departments are taking notice of what Ogden is doing.

“I’ve had other chiefs from other fire departments reach out and say, ‘What exactly are you doing?'” he said. “There’s other great programs out there. I think ours is unique and it works for the demographics of Weber County and Ogden City.”

Watkins said she’s proud to be able to serve the community in such a unique role.

“Not everybody has the mentality to be in that kind of environment,” she said. “There’s a lot of drug use and there’s a lot of mental health issues, but I love my job. I love being there. It’s something new every day. It keeps me moving. It’s a new challenge every day. I would like to see other fire departments come in and take a look at what I do for a few hours, take it back to their stations and maybe implement that.”

Slater said there’s a major reason the advocate position is in place now.

“We love people, and just because somebody’s suffering homelessness, or they’re unsheltered or they have an addiction or mental health issue doesn’t mean we quit loving them,” he said. “They’re people. They’re somebody’s mother, father, sister, brother, husband, son, daughter. We care about those people and we can’t just turn a blind eye to these individuals because they’re somebody to somebody.”

He added that they’ve seen enough success with Watkins in the position that the department is already in the process of expanding the program.

“We feel like there’s room for growth,” Slater said. “We’ve actually hired and are in the process of onboarding the second homeless medical advocate and we purchased what we call a mobile clinic. Now we can meet people where they’re at. Ange and this new person will be able to get in that clinic and go to homeless encampments, parks and touch these people where they’re at to make sure they can develop a relationship and further that program.”

He said this will allow for coverage at the Lantern House and beyond seven days per week.