New crisis response team may ease burden on hospitals, jails

SPRINGFIELD, Ill (WICS) — The City of Springfield has officially launched a new program meant to address mental health, substance use, and opioid related emergencies across the area.

The BEACON program deploys Springfield Fire Department alongside local behavioral health experts, taking a community-based approach to crises, without necessarily needing law enforcement present.

Brand new ambulance Rescue 1 serves as a mobile response and stabilization vehicle for the beacon team, according to the City of Springfield.

Services begin Tuesday.

Fire Chief Nick Zummo said not every 911 call can be resolved through a trip to the emergency room or a night in jail.

And by changing the way Springfield responds to behavioral or substance-use calls, it could reduce the strain across the city.

"We've seen a huge uptick in calls in the last five years, and a lot of those can be attributed to mental health, to drug addiction, to a lot of these just, you know, different medical calls that we're not accustomed to really responding to,” Zummo said.

This isn't the first program of its kind in the city. Springfield Police Department already has a co-responder program, partnering the same kind of behavioral health experts with police officers.

But Zummo said the BEACON project came about because the community was calling for something different.

Beyond improving existing facilities for individuals experiencing mental health or substance use emergencies, city leaders hope the change will ease the burden on law enforcement and emergency rooms in the area.

Medical professionals from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine affirmed crises are on the rise...putting the pressure on local hospitals.

Part of the goal of the BEACON project is to get people help, without a hospital trip or night in jail.

"If we're able to help people who need extra support, get it before they're at their breaking points, before they're at a psychiatric emergency, that can really help them to get stabilized, avoid whatever, if that's legal consequences, if that's an involuntary hospitalization, we can get the support that they need,” Taryn Ellison, the behavioral health coordinator for SIU Addiction Medicine Clinic told NewsChannel 20.

SIU Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Michelle Geiss said there's just one substance therapist for their entire hospital.

With a caseload that big, she said the BEACON project could be very helpful.

"Decreases the amount of patients in the ER, decrease that wait time because a lot of patients know they'll come in and are struggling and everything and don't want to have to wait eight, 10 plus hours to be seen and then have to wait for bed up on inpatient psych units,” Geiss said.

She also said the BEACON program could shorten the wait for resources.

"With insurance, a lot of times all the patients that'll come in and will note they're suicidal to get admitted because otherwise they're not going to meet criteria. So then they want inpatient rehab,” Geiss said. “Get all these referrals sent out and be put on their insurance, most rehabs will want to take private insurance over somebody who has Medicaid."

Although Geiss and Ellison said BEACON can help, it doesn't solve some of the larger issues in the community.

"Global stressors that are happening, big systemic problems. And so I think when people don't have stable housing, when they can't afford their basic needs, all of this crisis is going to continue to happen. So I think what we can do in the meantime is to show up. To be a community to one another,” Ellison said.

Ellison said with the BEACON program's design to give professionals more time to help, and more time to build trust, we could see better outcomes for community health.

Zummo said the city could look into expanding the BEACON project after the first few months.

The community has been pushing for changes to how the city handles behavioral health following the deaths of Earl Moore Jr and Sonya Massey.

Both were killed after calling 911 for help.

The Massey Commission, formed in the wake of their deaths, has been pushing for the greater Springfield-Sangamon area to create, expand, and improve crisis response...creating what they hope is better access and better care...

Things that may have prevented Moore and Massey’s deaths.

New crisis response team may ease burden on hospitals, jails

Comments / 1