EMS-6
This is the first team that brought together community paramedics with clinicians. The EMS-6 team works with people who use emergency services the most. Many are experiencing homelessness and face substance use and/or mental health disorders. EMS monitors 911 calls, and gets calls from caseworkers to respond to people who need help. They provide urgent care and transport people to the hospital or to shelter.
Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT)
The Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT) operates citywide, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. SCRT provides rapid, trauma-informed emergency care to people in acute crisis. SCRT teams address urgent behavioral health and wellness issues. They provide linkages to critical resources for people with complex health needs such as urgent care, emergency shelter, substance-abuse treatment, mental health and medical clinics, and residential programs.
SCRT units are staffed with a Community Paramedic, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or second paramedic, and either a Peer Counselor or a Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) specialist. Behavioral health clinicians are a core part of SCRT. On March 4, 2023, the SCRT program reconfigured its team composition to improve outcomes for people in crisis, to be able to respond to a broader range of crisis calls, and to offer follow-up after the crisis. Behavioral Health clinicians now provide follow-up support through the expanded City's Office of Coordinated Care (OCC), offering follow-up to people who got a response from an SCRT unit. Follow-up includes care coordination and connections to critical resources.
Response: 911 calls related to (a behavioral health crisis or serious wellness need) and "on views" (meaning teams can proactively stop if they see something)
Street Overdose Response Team (SORT)
SORT connects with people in the critical moments after they experienced an overdose. Community paramedics can initiate medication-assisted treatments, such as buprenorphine, in the field to better assist individuals with substance use disorders, rescue kits, educational materials, and with support to get into substance use treatment and shelter. Follow up teams include a street medicine specialist from the Department of Public Health, peer specialists and behavioral health clinicians.
Response: 911 calls about an overdose; follow-ups in the days after the initial response