CARES

CARES Mission

The mission of the Community Assistance Response and Emergency Services (CARES) Program is to enhance public health and safety by providing alternatives to Emergency Services for persons with non-emergent needs.
The goal is to provide alternative and more appropriate care for those with non-emergent needs while concurrently reducing the strain on our emergency resources caused by these non-emergencies.

Emergency Service Patrol Van and Sobering Center

Emergency medical technicians patrol and respond to calls regarding public intoxication, providing interventions, conducting wellness checks, and transporting impaired individuals to a safe place or the sobering center. In short, they build relationships with people on the streets and connect them with the resources they need to improve their quality of life and build a sustainable road to recovery while reducing their impact on our community’s emergency services.

Community Paramedicine Program

Individuals who lack housing, health insurance, and employment may have complex needs that are often costly to the community. In addition to chronic inebriant individuals, this also includes people with physical and mental health challenges, people who frequently use the emergency room as their primary health care provider, and the elderly person in the transitional stage of life between independent living and assisted living. Often times, as elderly individuals develop more and more needs, there is a tendency to use 9-1-1 and the EMS system as their Home-Health-Care Provider. They have needs, but they do not need an ambulance or an ER.

Community Paramedicine will address these issues, and the following:

  • Inappropriate response to behavioral and psychiatric responses by CCF/R and JPD
  • Low acuity responses receiving the same level of CCF/R resources as high acuity emergencies
  • Impact of high utilizers of the entire community medical system (EMS, Emergency Department, and health insurance)