Juneau has a new mobile crisis team dedicated to assisting people with mental health emergencies.
Bartlett Regional Hospital Chief Nursing Officer Kim McDowell said the city looked at similar models across the country when it developed this program.
“It’s kind of the first window of opportunity to provide de-escalation for somebody in crisis in the field that doesn’t involve EMS or the police department,” she said.
Juneau police dispatch can choose to call the crisis team when an emergency call comes through, based on a list of what situations are appropriate. The team may also be deployed based on calls to the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
McDowell said the team responds in cases when the individual is not in imminent danger of hurting themselves or someone else.
The team is made up of a Capital City Fire Rescue paramedic and a Bartlett Regional Hospital clinician. Crisis care consists of immediate response to a situation or crisis, further assessment of the person undergoing the emergency, stabilization, and follow-up involving other services. That could be case management or checking in with services the person regularly uses.
McDowell said this program allows people to receive care where they are, instead of having to come to the emergency room.
“There’s nothing like providing them resources where they live, and that gives you the opportunity to wrap in family, if there’s family there,” she said. “And to give them all the resources that they might need to be able to go day by day and without having to come to the hospital unless it’s needed.”
The rollout of this new mobile crisis team began last month. Now, the team is officially responding to calls from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. McDowell says the city hopes to expand those hours in the future.
