Joliet, IL, Fire Department Creates Community Mental Health Program

When they conducted a community risk assessment, Joliet fire officials realized that 15 percent of the EMS calls involved a person experiencing a mental health crisis.

Joliet Fire Chief Jeff Carey said they determined they needed to delve deeper into the issue as paramedics were responding to the same residences time after time.

"They were getting released from the local emergency room after three days. We learned that the wait for mental healt intervention was about four to six weeks. That's why we were seeing the same people over and over and over again."

Carey said he didn't want his department to sit idly by and just talk about the issue or simply share the statistics with other agencies and hope they came up with a solution.

In 2022, they created The Joliet Fire Department Ccommunity Mental Health Program and reached out to a handful of local agencies to join.

Firefighter/paramedics went through training to identify and assist a person in crisis. The scenarios they encountered included being able to recognize if the patient was experiencing a true medical emergency, not just an anxiety attack.

"We are not mental health clinicians, but we can perform crisis intervention to de-escalate a situation and build rapport with patients so that we can refer them to definitive care."

Carey said he and his staff contacted local mental health cliniciansa, who agreed to be part of the program, acknowleding that the services were despeately needed.

He was ready to reach out to organizations and agencies for donations when it was suggested appoaching Joliet city officials, and inform them of the program.

"It was unanomous. They agreed to pay for the program. The participating clinicians agreed to accept patients on Medicare, Medicaid as well as those without insurance. The city pays for people without insurance."

"The City of Joliet partnered with Thriveworks® to provide timely access to mental health care. Thriveworks® is a national network of over 2000 clinicians that offers therapy from family counseling to psychiatry.

Residents can make an appointment to see a therapist within 24-48 hours of enrollment and often the same day. The level of care depends on the patient's needs. The patient's therapist can be seen as often as required and will remain their therapist as long as the patient wants.

The department's calls for mental health patients dropped. 

The services also are not limited to adults.

"There were 12 teenage suicides in the Joliet area high schools in the 2021-2022 school year alone...This collaboration led to no teenage suicides in Joliet in 2023 or 2024."

He is proud of the results. "A parent called crying, thanking us," he said, adding that the department's relationship with the community flourished after the program was established. 

"When they put pamphlets out at different locations, ones with the fire department logo are the most popular by far..."

For establishing the unique program, the fire department received the Excellence in Emergency Medical Services Award last week at the Congressional Fire Services Institute at its annual dinner in the nation's capital.

"I had nn idea we were nominated. I got an e-mail from Masimo (the awared sponsor) and thought they were trying to sell me something. I didn't open it right away," he said with a laugh. 

Carey was quick to add that many have a hand in making the program successful.