Updated: Nov. 07, 2023, 3:05 p.m.In this file photo, retired Shaker Heights Police Chief Jeff DeMuth, MetroHealth's Dr. Julia Bruner and Shaker Fire Chief Patrick F. Sweeney talk about the initial partnership in which MetroHealth supplied the Shaker Heights Police Department with a social worker who will help with mental health-related calls. The goal is to keep people having behavioral issues out of the emergency room and jails.
Since the merger in 2021, their original communications center has remained in the MetroHealth System’s Cleveland Heights Medical Center, located on Severance Circle and now adjacent to the newerThe concept seems simple enough: having a social worker embedded with first responders on what appear to be crisis interventions more than police and ambulance calls.
“Ultimately, when we are fully staffed, we will have a mental health professional in the dispatch center, as well as in the field, with coverage for all five cities.”its own pilot program in 2021, Shaker Heights made the job a full-time position just about a year ago, with a licensed social worker and clinician who works with police and firefighters on potential behavioral health calls but responds to the scene on her own.
The city also brought an intern on board this year, and plans to hire more mental health professionals as part of its newly adopted “But any outside funding remained scarce -- at least up until the DOJ took notice.
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