WEB EXTRA: Interview with Richard Gist, Creator of 9-1-1 Assistance Program KANSAS CITY, MO (kcur) - Richard Gist is Principal Assistant to the Director of the Kansas City Missouri Fire Department. He developed the Citizen Assist Program, which is a joint project between the KCMO Fire Department and the Visiting Nurse Association.

It helps people who call 9-1-1 connect with various social and medical services, and Gist says it's the only program in the country to provide such services through referrals from a city's emergency response system.

Dr. Gist recently sat down with KCUR's Elana Gordon to talk about the program and about how his understanding of the role of 9-1-1 services has changed since the program first started up two years ago.

Funding for health care coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

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