Police and psychiatric nurses join forces on mental health calls

This is what a standard police vehicle would look like. It has a data terminal, emergency lights and sirens, even bars in the back seat. But there is one thing this vehicle is missing, doesn’t have the decals, doesn’t have any markings of a police vehicle. And for the teams behind the wheel, it’s proving to work in their favor. People that are in crisis when they when they see this vehicle unmarked come up it it’s not as triggering. It’s what makes up the bulk of the cases for the West Shore RCMP’s Mobile Integrated Crisis Response Team. Which pairs A frontline police officer with a registered psychiatric nurse and just having that wealth of knowledge so they can assess them in the field rather than at the hospital, has been absolutely amazing. Since officially launching in February of this year, the teams have attended 270 calls with a mental health component. Of these, only 14% have resulted in apprehensions under the Mental Health Act. Compare that to last year where a total of 17188 calls for service involved a mental health component. And 19% resulted in an involuntary apprehension. So we’re already projected to be much lower than that just given the first quarter of this year. The province has contributed $375,000 this year to ensure Island Health is able to hire nurses to be a part of these teams. Those on the frontline say it’s proving to be a worthy investment. It in itself will decrease some stress on the healthcare system, I believe just because we’re able to assess in the community and not take people to hospital. Members there now, but they have the concept is nothing new. Already up and running in several jurisdictions throughout the province. But with detachment seeing calls related to mental health continuing to rise, the hope is to expand the service and meet the demand. If you ask them the question if they want more, their answer would be yes, it’s working. Having 24 hour access to this approach to care is would be vital I think. It’s a very positive thing I think for the community. Kylie Stanton.