VIDEO: The Salt Lake City Fire Department is one of only about 1% of fire departments in the country running a program that embeds social workers directly with paramedics and firefighters to respond to 911 calls involving a wide variety of issues, including mental health crises and drug overdoses.
The program, called the Community Health Access Team — or CHAT — has been operating for 4 years. The goal is to meet people at their most vulnerable moments and connect them to services that can provide lasting help — not just immediate medical care.
“It’s about sending the right people to the right call at the right time and changing their life,” Salt Lake City Fire Division Chief Kyle Lavender said. CHAT team members are stationed at Salt Lake City fire stations, including Fire Station 5, located near 900 South and 900 East.
Social workers respond alongside paramedics and firefighters to calls involving issues that may require more than immediate medical attention.
“Salt Lake City probably has the lion’s share of the homeless population in the state of Utah, and with that population comes a lot of substance abuse, mental illness — and for our firefighters, that’s not really their training,” Lavender said.
KSTU-TV FOX 13 Salt Lake City
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