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Spokane Fire Dept. creates Behavioral Response Unit to help with mental health calls

This is why back in June the Spokane Fire Department rolled out a Behavior Health Response unit.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Firefighters are called on to put out fires and help people having a medical emergency, but they are increasingly called on to deal with mental health related calls.

This is why back in June the Spokane Fire Department rolled out a Behavioral Health Response unit.

Spokane Fire Department officials said it responds to about nine behavioral related calls a day. On top of that, the department has seen a 20 percent growth in these responses so far this year compared to the first half of 2017. In an effort to address this concerning trend, the department implemented a behavioral health response program by partnering with Frontier Behavioral Health.

"In the past, a person who was suffering from behavioral like issues, was put in the back of an ambulance and taken to the emergency department and that's not really the best approach in terms of care and resources that individual needs," said Mike Lopez with Integrated Medical Services Manager.

The program now staffs one paramedic who is paired with a licensed mental health counselor.

"Once they've established that this is a behavioral case, the mental health counsel and paramedic will approach the client and start talking with the individual and try to find out where the individual is in terms of their own life and what needs they might have," Lopez said.

Since the program started on June 11, the Behavioral Health unit has responded to 39 requests for help. Officials said19 of the people the unit responded to were referred to more appropriate behavioral health services and avoided being transported in an ambulance.

"I can conclude that if we continue to see these kinds of numbers that we'll actually start, "A", returning our engine companies and AMR back into service to deal with higher acute conditions. And "B" we'll see a reduction in the demand of hospital emergency environments," Lopez explained.

Lopez said as the program continues, the department may consider adding more units to meet the number of behavioral related calls.

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