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Newport News was one of the first cities in Virginia to start sending mental health professionals to 911 calls for mental health crises.
So far, the program known as Community Assistance Response, or CARE, is showing signs of success. But it needs more staff to be able to respond to calls in the evening, so the city is hoping to add one more two-person team to the program.
“I think this is one of the best programs we’ve started within this city,” Police Chief Steve Drew told the City Council at a meeting on March 8. “It makes a world of difference to our citizens. It’s something to really hang our hat on and be proud of.”
The city launched CARE in June, with two teams comprised of a mental health professional and a paramedic.
Within the first six months, the teams responded to 386 calls, but the number would have been higher with more staff, according to Newport News Fire Chief Jeff Johnson. He says about 40% of the calls to dispatchers that could have been handled by a CARE team have come at a time when a unit wasn’t available.
The city’s proposed budget, which is awaiting approval from the City Council, includes funding for a third CARE team for nighttime hours. CARE teams are typically available from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The proposal would also make the two existing mental health professional positions part of the city’s staff; they’re currently employees of the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board.
It’s unclear whether the current mental health professionals would stay with the program if the change is made, Johnson said. But the shift would give the schedule more flexibility and allow for overtime.
The bulk of the calls handled by the program are for people with existing mental health conditions or individuals who are threatening suicide.
Oftentimes those who are experiencing a mental health crisis have run out of their medications, according to Johnson. The CARE team is able to do an assessment at the scene and make contact with the person’s health care provider. The team ensures the prescription is refilled and a family member — or CARE team member — goes to pick it up.
Of the 386 calls for service, 53 calls have ended with the CARE team transporting someone for additional help. Before the city launched the program, almost all of the calls would have ended with an ambulance taking the individual to an emergency room. Since the team launched, none of the calls have required an ambulance.
People who need an ambulance in Newport News are billed $450 for transport, Johnson said. The individual having a mental health crisis doesn’t receive a bill for services provided by the CARE team. It’s saved those who have needed services nearly $150,000.
Johnson says in the first six months, the program also saved the city more than $120,000 by saving the police department more than $62,000 — 2,470 labor hours — and more than $52,000 in medical personnel costs for the 333 calls that did not require transport.
“Just pulling the numbers and the data, it validates that we’re on to something — that we’re doing the right thing,” Johnson said.
Initially, there were some concerns about how people in a mental health crisis might respond to the CARE team, such as with physical aggression, Johnson said. But so far, that hasn’t been the case.
The team members do not carry a weapon and dress in a maroon polo and khakis — a uniform considered nonconfrontational.
The response to the team has been largely positive.
Those in crisis know they’re getting “the highest level of expertise out there in the field by having a qualified mental health professional” respond to help, Johnson said.
The goal of the program is to reduce — and in some cases eliminate — the need for police response on these types of calls.
In the first six months of the program, police were still the primary responder with the CARE team on standby for 241, or 62%, of the calls. Police were on site but stayed at a distance for 85, or 22%, of the calls. The CARE team was the sole responder for 60, or 16%, of the calls.
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Johnson said dispatchers in the emergency communications center determine whether the CARE team is notified to respond.
Within the next year, the goal is to have a police response on less than 50% of calls the CARE team can handle, Johnson said. Ultimately, he’d like to see the CARE team responding to about 62% of the calls on its own.
Drew, the police chief, has given presentations to leaders in other cities, both in and outside the state, who are interested in pursuing a similar model.
In 2020, the General Assembly passed legislation to create the “Marcus Alert” to limit the role of law enforcement on calls for an individual in crisis while making behavioral health experts readily available.
The alert was named for Marcus-David Peters, a high school biology teacher who was killed in 2018 by a Richmond police officer while he was experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
Under the law, all community services boards and behavioral health authorities will need an established system to include a community care or mobile crisis response team by summer 2026.
Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com