Wheeling Police, Northwood Partner to Help People With Mental Health, Addiction Issues
Shelley Hanson Trending
WHEELING - The Wheeling Police Department and Northwood Health Systems are teaming up to help people with mental health struggles, drug addictions or both get the care they need.
Wheeling Police Department Chief Shawn Schwertfeger and Kristy Myers, director of Northwood Health Systems' Crisis Services, held a joint press conference on Thursday to announce the new Crisis Intervention and Overdose Response program.
It will include the use of a new mobile response team from Northwood that the police can call to help assess a person. The program will also include training for police and other first responders on how to properly deal with people suffering from mental health issues, drug issues or both.
Schwertfeger said one goal of the program is to help reduce overdoses in the city. There have been 160 overdoses this year, he said.
"It's no secret that substance abuse and addiction are prevalent in our community," he said.
In the case of an overdose, Northwood's mobile response unit professionals would be called to the hospital after the police are done with their investigation.
In the case of a mental health issue, if an officer is on a call and someone is experiencing a mental health crisis the mobile response unit can be called in.
"Having been a police officer for a very long time, I know that mental health calls ... are very unpredictable and can be very dangerous and sometimes can end in tragedy," he said. "Northwood's mobile responders will come to the scene as long as it is a safe scene, and work with police officers to try to rectify or eventually get these individuals the assistance they need."
He said two of the department's officers have already received crisis intervention training and are now a special part-time unit. The officers will be providing crisis intervention training to other first responders as well.
"The goal is to not have a certain call end in tragedy," he said.
Schwertfeger said the department also hopes to divert people with mental health concerns away from jail.
"Many of the folks around the city of Wheeling that may be experiencing mental health (concerns) or homelessness, jail is not the place for them," he said. "If they are committing crimes, we may be able to use that leverage of a criminal act to encourage them to get some assistance."
Myers said Northwood received a grant from the state of West Virginia for its mobile crisis response unit. She said it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She said there are plans to expand the unit to the other Northern Panhandle counties, but for now it will only operate in Ohio County and work with police, fire and EMS personnel, and the 988 suicide and crisis emergency phone line.
She said the response unit consists of peer supporters who have experienced addiction in the past and have recovered, and the mobile responders who are trained in crisis intervention, suicide risk assessment and prevention, trauma informed care and motivational interviewing. She said there are currently five mobile responders and one such position still remaining to be filled.
"Mobile Response is a 24/7/365 program designed to address crisis level emotional and behavioral health needs within the community," she said. "In partnership with the Wheeling Police Department, through co-response, we have launched our MCR program in Ohio County with efforts to improve access to treatment and reduce unnecessary use of inpatient hospitalization and incarceration. By expanding how we deliver services, we reach more people in need."
Myers said the program is up and running and the unit has already responded with the police several times successfully.
Schwertfeger noted he wished he had this type of training when he was a new officer.
"For years, police officers have been working with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis with limited resources or no formal training. This new program links the two entities that share a common goal," he said. "Substance abuse and mental illness are often linked. By working with the Northwood Mobile Responders, we believe we can reduce our calls for service, criminal activity and ultimately provide help to those who are in desperate need."