LAFD and L.A. County Mental Health Debut Therapeutic Van Program
City and County of Los Angeles leaders gathered on March 3, 2022 to announce the expansion of a pilot program offering specialized mobile assistance and transportation for those experiencing serious psychological crisis in the .
ÃûæÂÖ±²¥ Chief Ralph Terrazas joined Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, County Supervisor Hilda Solis and Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Deputy Director Miriam Brown at LAFD Station 4 in downtown Los Angeles to highlight the program, .
Now underway, the year-long pilot program will soon expand to a total of five Therapeutic Vans, each owned by the and staffed by a Psychiatric Mobile Response Team comprised of a clinical driver, psychiatric technician, and a peer support specialist, all dressed in civilian attire.
The teams will be available 24 hours a day, deployed from stations in Downtown, South Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, Southwest Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.
. has launched therapeutic vans to assist emergency responders for non life-threatening mental health emergencies. Services are available 24/7 and are deployed by the 9-1-1 system.
— Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA)
The GPS tracked Therapeutic Vans will be radio dispatched by LAFD Dispatchers to join LAFD responders already at the scene of a medical emergency, when those crews have determined a Psychiatric Mobile Response Team is best suited to support a patient experiencing a serious psychological crisis.
When and where appropriate, the Therapeutic Van will be used to comfortably and expeditiously transport the patient directly to a Psychiatric Urgent Care Center, bypassing the otherwise required process of having an LAFD ambulance first take the patient to a hospital emergency room for clinical examination and clearance, before that person could be taken to yet another facility for psychiatric support.
The program goal is to provide a better experience and outcome for the patient by improving the speed and ease of access to specialized care, while freeing up first responders and vital hospital emergency room resources.
Update: August 19, 2022
With the latest County of Los Angeles, Department of Mental Health Therapeutic Van now in service and operating from LAFD Station 94 in the Crenshaw District / Baldwin Hills area of Southwest Los Angeles, we are pleased to share this brief video update:
