Delta Optimist

The province is expanding a new tactic pioneered by Delta Police that uses tech to give officers and health care staff a head start on mental health calls.

HealthIM has already saved the DPD time and money by reducing the number of arrests, paperwork, and time officers spent waiting to transfer patients into hospitals under the Mental Health Act.

DPD have been using the app since 2019, along with RCMP in Surrey and Prince George.

DPD A/Insp. James Sandberg said the rate of apprehensions in such cases has dropped about 20 per cent and a reduction in the amount of wait time at hospitals.

“Simply put, by using HealthIM, our officers have gotten better over time at assessing the overall situation,” Sandberg said. “This has resulted in improved decision making and confidence in those decisions.”

CBC News

Police officers in Port Moody, B.C., are about to start using a digital public safety system to de-escalate and navigate situations that involve mental health and addiction, Mike Farnworth, solicitor general and public safety minister, said Wednesday.

The digital risk screening tool, called HealthIM, aims to assist officers attending crisis calls by giving advice and guidance from health officials to better understand the behaviour of the person who prompted the call. It also offers evidence-based information about mental health and addiction situations, Farnworth said at a news conference.

Farnworth said the digital tool, already in use by municipal police in Delta and the RCMP in Surrey and Prince George, will officially launch Thursday in Port Moody.

It is also currently being used by police in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, he said.

Edmonton Journal

Edmonton’s police force will be the first law enforcement service in Alberta to fully utilize a new digital tool aimed at improving how officers respond to mental health emergencies.

The Alberta government announced on Thursday it will be spending more than $789,000 in order to provide police officers with the HealthIM system, which has been adopted in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and by a number of services in Ontario.

The app provides front-line officers with an onsite tool and information on how to handle a mental health emergency including de-escalation techniques and a risk assessment screener to help determine whether transportation to health facilities is warranted. The system also allows for communication with those health facilities, which is intended to speed up the transfer of care if needed.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) will be the first police service to fully implement the system, however, the government is aiming to roll out the digital tool province-wide.

Global News

Guelph police say they are the first policing service in Canada to use an improved version of a software tool designed to help officers better deal with people in crisis and mental distress.

HealthIM was first deployed in Guelph in January 2018 as part of a partnership between police, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and Guelph General Hospital.

Installed in patrol cars and smartphones, HealthIM helps police determine the appropriate response when dealing with a person who appears to be in a mental health crisis.

Officers have now received an updated version that gives them information from previous police calls, de-escalation tips, or any other alerts family members have provided during previous situations.

“Officers will now benefit from an improved version, which prioritizes the safety of the person in crisis and responding personnel,” police said in a news release.

Global News

The Manitoba government says it wants to put a tool designed to help police better deal with people in crisis and mental distress into the hands of more officers across the province.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said Thursday the province will spend more than $450,000 collected through the Federal Proceeds of Crime Fund to bring HealthIM to all Manitoba RCMP detachments.

Installed in patrol cars and smartphones, HealthIM helps police determine the appropriate response when dealing with a person who appears to be in a mental health crisis.

“Law enforcement officers are often the first line of response to emergency mental health crisis situations and the HealthIM system provides an effective, evidence-based tool to help improve crisis outcomes and ensure people are referred to appropriate resources in their communities,” said Cullen.

Quinte News

A digital smartphone app called HealthIM being used by the Belleville Police Service on mental health calls is getting results.

Inspector Sheri Meeks told the Police Services Board today (Thursday) that the app is used to help police officers assess people experiencing mental crises on scene and how most effectively to deal with them.

HealthIM has lessened the number of people being brought to Belleville General Hospital for treatment and dropped officers’ wait times in hospital on mental health calls by more than an hour on average.

The app has often led officers to decide that the person is in need of counselling and needs not be arrested and it allows for instant referral to appropriate agencies.

Slightly less than half (42%) of the Belleville Police Service’s calls for service involve mental health issues in one form or another.

CTV News Winnipeg

The Brandon Police Service’s new tool for responding to mental health crises is yielding positive results for the police force, just seven months after its launch.

According to a news release, since 'HealthIM' launched in July 2019 less than half of crisis calls the cops respond to now end up involuntarily at the hospital for assessment. It also notes that of the calls that do end up at the Brandon Regional Health Centre, wait times for officer-escorted presentations have decreased from 3-5 hours, to an average of just over an hour.

“What we’re finding now is that rather than taking these individuals to triage at the hospital to see a doctor, we’re recognizing through the app that they’re able to go to other agencies to get the care that they need rather than a long hospital wait,” said Sgt. Kirby Sararas, public information officer for the Brandon Police Service.

Northumberland News

Officers can now access the HealthIM mental health crisis response system by using an app on their cellphones.

Staff Sergeant Katie Andrews of the Port Hope Police Service (PHPS) said her service is one of three in Ontario that are now using it on their phones.

“Each officer will have this on their cellphone,” she said, pointing out that it has more commonly been used on desktops computers in the office and on laptops in police cruisers. “When they get to a call that requires some mental health services they can start with a new call, acute crisis or can report a search.”

The Cobourg Police Service has also been using the system since June 2017.

HealthIM, a Kitchener-based software company founded by University of Waterloo graduates, created the system, which combines “clinical evidence-based screening instruments and rigorous cryptography standards to support front-line patrol in providing an informed and empathetic response to crisis calls.”

Kawartha 411

A partnership between the Kawartha Lakes Police Service and Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay is proving to be a success.

Police say their 40 minute average hospital wait time is the lowest of any service using the Health IM program for mental health calls. 28 Police services are currently using the program.

HealthIM is a program which allows officers to screen an individual’s risk of harm to self, harm to others and failure to care for self, in keeping with the Mental Health Act. An officer who is interacting with a member of the community in crisis can input data into the screening program. The program provides the officer with an evaluation of risk in the three noted areas and will help an officer assess the individual’s needs. If an officer determines it is necessary to take the person in crisis to hospital, the program shares the information obtained by the officer with mental health / medical professionals at Ross Memorial Hospital in real time and before the cruiser arrives at the hospital.

Smiths Falls Record News

Police services across the country have begun to shift their attention to addressing the mental health concerns of the public they serve. The Smiths Falls Police Service (SFPS) is no different.

In January, the SFPS, in partnership with Lanark County Mental Health, brought on board a mental health nurse to assist them with calls.

Smiths Falls Police Chief Mark MacGillivray explained that having a mental health nurse within the department is helping to close the gaps between policing and mental health services, which he said he hopes will lead to better outcomes for those suffering with mental health issues within the community.

“The idea is to try to reduce some of the police contact and enhance the response to the patient in crisis with mental health care,” he said.

“It’s an enhanced crisis response,” said Diana McDonnell, executive director of Lanark County Mental Health (LCMH). “We’ve had crisis services in Lanark County for 18 years, but it hasn’t been as mobile.”

Winnipeg Sun

Manitoba government is investing over $310,000 from the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund in a new tool that will allow nine police agencies to improve how they respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis with the goal of de-escalating potentially dangerous situations, it was announced Monday.

“These police agencies understand that there is a need for this tool everywhere in every community to help our front-line officers, the people in crisis and the broader community”, said Justice Minister Cliff Cullen.

With the funding, police forces in Winnipeg, Brandon, Ste. Anne, Winkler, Altona, Morden and Rivers along with the Manitoba First Nations Police Service and RCMP detachments in Steinbach, Thompson and Portage la Prairie will install an evidence-based HealthIM risk assessment tool in patrol cars and on other mobile devices. When police respond to a call and find a person in a mental health crisis, the tool will help them determine the most appropriate response based on their observations and an assessment of the potential risks.

Cornwall Newswatch

A new Cornwall police-led crisis team, focusing on freeing up police and hospital resources dealing with mental health cases, is already seeing results.

And the need is there, Cornwall police Insp. Shawna Spowart (now deputy chief-designate) highlighted to the police board Wednesday morning, with a 155 per cent jump in mental health calls in the last decade and a 65 per cent increase alone between 2016 and 2017.

Spowart also introduced the newly formed Vulnerable Sector Mobile Acute Response Team (VSMART). It’s based on a similar team in Brantford, where the rapid-response unit assists officers on mental health calls by trying to deescalate a crisis and avoiding an arrest.

In a little over two weeks, the Cornwall team has already seen police apprehensions on mental health calls drop to 42.9 per cent from 81 per cent and hospital wait times for those cases slashed from 2 hours, 46 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Regina Leader-Post

Like all police officers, Insp. Cory Lindskog has responded to many mental health crisis calls during his career — some of which he can only describe as heartbreaking.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” Lindskog said. “First of all, it’s being able to determine that this person is in crisis and needs help, and then trying to figure out what kind of help this person needs.”

Police officers in Regina and Saskatoon are using a software application called HealthIM to evaluate a person’s mental state. When patrol members arrive at a call, they use the app — which is installed on laptops in their patrol cars — to assess the risk the individual presents to himself or others.

“It’s not that we’re diagnosing people, because that’s certainly not our role,” Lindskog said. “It just gives us more information. Are they delusional? Are they drinking?”

Smiths Falls Record News

The Smiths Falls Police Service has employed a new mental health screening and documentation tool to better align mental health services and police in collaboration with Lanark County Mental Health (LCMH) and the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.

When the officers encounter someone who’s in crisis, they’re able to fill out a standardized form with 30 questions to indicate what they are witnessing in the field using medical terms. They’re also able to identify risk factors including drug use and weapons possession, which gets sent immediately to LCMH and the hospital, all from inside their cruiser in a matter of minutes — something that was not an option with the previous forms.

Once all questions are answered through the system within the cruisers, the Health IM system calculates the risk of self-harm, harm to others or a failure to care for themselves. Officers then uses these criteria to support their on-scene decision.

Guelph Today

Guelph Police are teaming up with the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Guelph General Hospital to speed up the process when dealing with calls involving mental health issues.

Pertinent information about the call that used to be hand written on a form filled and delivered to medical practitioners will now be submitted electronically through an app straight from the responding officer’s cruiser.

That means the information gets delivered almost immediately to all parties that might end up being involved.

“It gets them the appropriate help by getting the information to a medical practitioner quicker. It gets the facts and issues to a person with the expertise to make the right decision,” said Gueph Police spokesperson Const. Chris Probst.

Northumberland News

The Cobourg Police Service now has a new tool available to them when responding to crisis calls that deal with mental health challenges.

Effective June 6, the local service will adopt the innovative new mental health crisis response system called HealthIM.

Based on a clinical screening tool, which was specifically designed for law enforcement use, HealthIM software runs inside cruisers and on police mobile devices.

The tool assists officers in determining the best environment for a person in crisis.

“It’s our job to keep the person and the community safe,” said Cobourg Police Chief Kai Liu. “By law, we also must decide if the person needs to go to the hospital for emergency assessment.”