New program a "win-win" for patients, hospital and police

A pilot project run by the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service and Sault  Area Hospital (SAH), dedicated to better handling of mental health calls, seems to be a success.

In fact, Robert Keetch, Sault Police chief, is sending off a grant application to the province Friday with the aim of continuing and enhancing it.

The pilot project, launched in November, was originally supposed to last for three months, but is still running.

It aims to treat distressed people at the scene of the call, to divert them from the SAH emergency department (ED) and free up time for police officers to attend to other calls for service in the community.

Normally, a police officer may have to spend anywhere from two to six hours at the hospital while a patient is being treated.

The program, known as Mobile Crisis Intervention, involves a police officer picking up a SAH crisis worker at the hospital before proceeding to the scene of a call involving a distressed person.

In more urgent cases, the crisis worker will meet police right at the scene.

Support is offered to individuals at the scene in the form of counselling, crisis intervention and collaborative problem solving.

"We're sending out someone who is way more qualified to assess the circumstances (referring to SAH crisis workers)," Keetch told reporters after Thursday's Police Services Board meeting.

"(As a result) we're seeing a reduction in the number of people presenting at emergency to be assessed," Keetch said.

"The reduction in numbers (of people taken to SAH emergency department and admitted) decreases the number of officers we have tied up with those individuals waiting in the emergency department, and it reduces the work demands on the emergency department, so from a pilot project perspective, it's been a win-win."  

The maximum amount of money that could be awarded to the program by the province would be $100,000, Keetch said.      

"We're going to increase the number of officers…we've got one officer dedicated (Constable Chris Kellar, who has expertise in dealing with people with mental health issues), and with the increase we'll go to two, we'll be able to cover more hours of the day (dedicated to mental health calls)."

The bulk of the funding, if awarded, will go to providing resources for SAH, Keetch said.

"We're prepared to dedicate the two people to make this happen, there'll be some training, and we're hoping we'll get it to enhance the level of service, because it provides better service to this type of client."

"We're not the most appropriate agency to respond to mental health incidents, we go because it's a crisis…(but) we think this is a good model, we really do."

In other Police Services Board news, the board approved a request by Yellow Cab to relocate its business office from 1137 Peoples Road to 180 Industrial Park Crescent.

The board also approved the purchase of an exercise bike for the police building's fitness room for $1,745.