Commissioners advance mobile integrated health program

DENTON – The Caroline County Commissioners, meeting Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Denton, approved the first steps for mobile integrated health in the county.

The three Commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding between the Caroline County Health Department and the Caroline County Department of Emergency Services to provide a mobile integrated health program (MIH) for Caroline County citizens.

“This is a great step forward,” Commission Vice President Larry Porter said. “We've talked about it for years. The question has been, what are we going to do? Well, this is the first step.”

DES Division Chief Kathy Jo Marvel and Holly Trice, CCHD Director of Nursing, described how MIH will work. The two departments will collaborate for a soft launch on Dec.1, seeing one client per week during December, with broader implementation beginning in January.

A limited number of clients 18 years or older, who consent to receive MIH services, will receive home visits from a nurse and paramedic. So far, 73 Caroline County residents who have called 911 five or more times during the past six months are eligible for MIH.

“We're excited. It's needed,” Marvel said. “We don't have a hospital, so we can keep the paramedics available for the high acuity calls, and we can address some of the low acuity, which will cycle down to less ER wait times, less transports of frequent people, and connecting people with primary care is really the goal.”

Trice said MIH is a program that will help keep members of the community “safe, healthy and at home.”

Marvel thanked Chrissy Bartz and the Basic Life Support (BLS) Committee, Health Department Director Robin Cahall and DES Director Mark Sheridan for supporting MIH. Trice thanked the County Commissioners, as well as the Caroline Foundation for a $50,000 grant to help fund the program.

Cahall said she hoped more funding will be available through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program.