IN LATE 2025, Contra Costa County community leaders launched a pilot campaign due to the rise of unnecessary ambulance calls and trips to the emergency rooms from residents.
Not only was this putting excessive stress and pressure on people who work in hospital ERs, but the costs related to the transportation and care had become increasingly costly for the billed patients.
To help all involved, “Right Care, Right Way” was created to educate clients on the health care system and how best to navigate it during an emergency.
Right Care, Right Way was established by county Supervisor Diane Burgis and is a collaboration between the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Contra Costa Health and Kaiser Permanente. Burgis said having experienced health issues most of her life, she often heard about the various challenges related to health care, including the overuse of emergency rooms and the pressure on ambulance services.
“I had a heart condition, and so I had heart surgery as a little girl and a lot of surgeries growing up. I have been a client or a consumer of health care all my life,” Burgis said. These experiences, she added, provided her with firsthand knowledge on how to help others.
Think before you dial 911
The goal of the pilot program is to teach people how best to use the health care service and insurance they utilize. In doing so, the hope is that people will think twice before calling an ambulance when they don’t need one. They also could see lower costs, and there would be decreased pressure on ER staff, benefiting all parties involved.
“It even helps kind of relieve some of the pressure off the people that work in the emergency room so they can help the people that really need to be helped, rather than helping people that show up at the emergency room because they don’t know where else to go,” Burgis said. About 20% of the 116,000 ambulances dispatched in the district during 2024 were for non-emergency services.
“It even helps kind of relieve some of the pressure off the people that work in the emergency room so they can help the people that really need to be helped. …”
Supervisor Diane Burgis
The first phase of the program (in 2025) was outreach, which included advertising on billboards, bus stops, signage and even magnets for refrigerators. This year, the focus is on presentations throughout the community and social media.
“And if it’s really a good model, it’s something that could be used across the state or across the country,” Burgis said. “We’ve had state and federal elected officials really interested. We’ve had philanthropy really interested.”
Jessica Aikman, a medical assistant from Antioch who works at Renown Regional MedicalCenter in Reno, Nevada, said the campaign is a good idea, especially since it offers online resources, in-person classes and bilingual materials.
“Any resources that help people, especially those that don’t speak English and aren’t likely to reach out for help because they don’t believe they’ll be understood,” Aikman said. “If it’s offered online, it’s easier for them to access that help.
“I think that will be a good thing … also for medical staff,” the Deer Valley High School graduate added. “I think that would also help lighten the load.”
Burgis and her team plan on recruiting ambassadors from Pittsburg’s Los Medanos College, whom they will train and then send out to different communities to help residents navigate their current and any possible future health-related challenges. She said one thing they see is patients going to the ER only to fill a prescription.
The campaign will help teach residents that they should not utilize emergency services in this way. The team wants to encourage the public to develop relationships with their doctors and/or health professionals, to contact them when needing something minor and save time and money in the process.
Jayden Mckenzie is an 11th grader at Deer Valley High School in Antioch and a CCYJ reporter. This story originally appeared in CCSpin.