CARe team seeks permanent provincial funding
By COLLIN GALLANT on November 3, 2023.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant A program that diverted emergency mental health calls from police, but shut down this fall for lack of funding in Medicine Hat, is hoping for a reprieve and potential expansion in the next provincial budget. The Community Assisted Response (CARe) team operated on a one-year $451,000 grant from the province starting in late 2022, taking over low- and medium-risk mental health calls and welfare checks from police. It closed down Aug. 31 after unsuccessfully lobbying the government and city for bridge funding while the provincial branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association developed plan to roll out similar programs in other cities. Local CMHA head Lyndon Grunewald told the News this week the group is now focused on securing recurring funding in the next provincial budget due in March. “We think it was successful and did an enormous amount of good,” he said. “We’re hoping to get permanent program funding, and expand it in to other regions.” The program links a team social worker and mental health specialists with 911 operators around the clock, and they take over low-risk files and incidents to free up police resources. Officials also say the program has the benefit of “decriminalizing” mental health emergencies, and provides more in-depth involvement and potentially better outcomes. They worked on 1,000 files over 11 months, said Grunewald, a figure that amounts to about 2 per cent of all calls to 911 in Medicine Hat annually. The program, run by the local office of the Canadian Mental Health Association, employed seven for 24-hour service. Grunewald petitioned Medicine Hat city council for bridge funding in June to allocate city funding for the project that aids city police. But, the work also crossed heavily into areas of provincial jurisdiction, such as health and mental health, city councillors stated before the request was denied. The province has made mental health and addictions a priority area. Since the start of CARe in Medicine Hat, the justice ministry used provincial sheriffs in downtown of major centres to alleviate strain on local police, provided funds for increased safety on transit systems and announced the creation of drug and alcohol addictions centres. The initial grant of $451,000 came from the Government of Alberta’s Civic Society Fund, but required funds be spent in the course of one year. 15-14
