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Interior Health and RCMP are enhancing the successful partnerships in the Kelowna and Kamloops area by hiring additional staff and expanding operating hours for the specialized crisis response service.
With the enhanced hours and staffing, the service will now be available 12 hours per day, seven days a week.
“Working together, RCMP and Interior Health are committed to addressing the needs of vulnerable people in our region," said Interior Health president and CEO Susan Brown. "We recognize that cooperation and collaboration are critical to ensure quality care for people experiencing mental health and substance use related crises. This is a first step as we work together to enhance crisis response across the region.”
The programs in Kelowna and Kamloops, previously known as CAR40 and the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) has a new unified name: the Integrated Crisis Response Teams. The programs will benefit from increased consistency in training, roles, reporting and evaluation.
"When people are in crisis because of mental illness or addictions challenges, we want them to be met with care,” said Sheila Malcolmson, the minister of mental health and addictions. “Expanding the successful Integrated Crisis Response Teams in Kamloops and Kelowna will support more people in distress and connect them to help and healthcare.”
The Interior Health and RCMP Joint Committee continues to meet and work together to look at crisis response services throughout the province, to identify additional opportunities for crisis response enhancement.
The Integrated Crisis Response Team's goal is to provide assistance to those experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, when intervention by a clinician is needed and there is no risk of violence.
For more information on Interior Health, click here.
For the RCMP, click here.
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