By Ashley Wiebe

Police, AHS assess mental health patients on scene

Jan 9, 2017 | 4:29 PM

Medicine Hat, AB — Mental health issues are becoming more prevalent in our community.

Now police and Alberta Health Services are working even closer to make sure patients are getting the help they need.

Officers will be paired with a mental health professional on emergency calls, to help keep anyone in a crisis situation out of the justice system.

It’s part of the police and crisis team, which allows officers and AHS to share information about a specific person.

Last year police responded to about 1,200 calls related to mental health or addictions.

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Debbie Vass with AHS said they’ll be able to reduce the number of calls police see, by redirecting them to the right people sooner.

“The more information we have from our police service, the better our service is in the mental health stream, so we can actually ensure that they’re getting the right service on the psychiatric unit, even coming into emergency,” she said.

By having a mental health professional attending emergency situations, they’ll be able to do an assessment on scene and determine the best way to help immediately.