(file photo/Pattison Media)

By Liam Verster

police and nurses

Mental health team supporting RCMP calls in Vernon, North Okanagan

Nov 28, 2023 | 4:00 PM

Mounties responding to local mental health calls have more supports to draw on.

The Vernon North Okanagan’s Integrated Crisis Response Team (ICRT) launched locally on Nov. 15.

RCMP Superintendent Shawna Baher said the three mental health and substance use nurses were hired through Interior Health to work hand-in-hand with two RCMP officers and respond to calls involving people dealing with those situations.

“They work basically from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day,” Baher told Vernon Matters.

“If there’s a file within the community that we feel would benefit from that nurse and police officer presence then we will send that car.”

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Mayor Victor Cumming was pleased to hear that the team was officially operational.

“Fantastic, just a great way to deal with mental health calls,” Cumming told Vernon Matters.

“It had been rolled out in larger centres and now we get it in Greater Vernon and the North Okanagan detachment. It’s wonderful.”

Vernon’s mayor added the specialized team is “exactly what we want to have to turn up to mental health calls. We absolutely want that capability, so we’re really pleased.”

Baher added getting this team in Vernon was something she had been working on for a long time.

“This is something that didn’t happen overnight, it seems like it by the time it became public,” Baher said.

“We had to prove the need,” Baher added. “We also had to look at other jurisdictions. It’s not just the large centres like Kelowna and Kamloops, it’s also the medium-sized like Penticton and Vernon that have a need, but then also the smaller communities within the Southeast District also have the desire and need. So this is one portion of a large model that we’re trying to build with the health authority.”

Baher did not have details on how many calls the ICRT had already responded to as of time of publication, but did state those figures would be included in future quarterly updates.