Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Mobile Integrated Healthcare (CORE Connect) is patient centered with a holistic approach focused on improvement of client outcomes. Our goal is to connect individuals with the most appropriate health and social services for their unique needs. The CORE team, a firefighter/EMT and social worker, identifies individuals with complex needs through firefighter referrals, who then follow up to conduct outreach visits and develop care management plans.

Started in 2017, the Outreach Coordination Program has one Mental Health Profession who engages with people without homes within the city and to MV citizens who over-utilize the 911 system to develop resiliency plans which include connections to other community agencies and individual caring community members.

Based off of the CAHOOTS model from Eugene, Oregon, the Olympia Police Department deploys a team of civilian first responders to calls for service due to poverty, behavioral health and substance use. The Crisis Response Unit (CRU) team responds to calls independently of law enforcement or with OPD officers. Additionally, the Olympia Police Department employs Outreach Specialists to engage with community members that have frequent contact with traditional first responders through their Familiar Faces program.

The City of Poulsbo and the Poulsbo Fire Department have been partnering to operate the Poulsbo Fire CARES program since January 2021. Poulsbo Fire CARES consists of a firefighter/crisis intervention officer and a behavioral health professional who respond to calls involving behavioral health issues and follow up after fire and police referrals.

Whatcom County Health Department launched the Response Systems division in 2022, focused on serving people who lack adequate care for behavioral health challenges. Many of these community members rely heavily on 911, crisis services or are caught up in the legal system.

The Response System division operates diversion programs in partnership with local Fire/EMS, Law Enforcement, Hospital, 911 dispatch and legal system partners. Our programs aim to increase effective care coordination across complex systems of care:

• Ground-level Response and Coordinated Engagement (GRACE, est. 2018)-partnered with Bellingham Fire, Ferndale Fire and Bellingham Police
• Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD, est. 2020)
• Alternative Response Team (ART, launching in 2023)-partnered with WhatComm dispatch and Compass Health
• Co-Responder Program (launching in 2023)-partnered with Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office