RCMP in Okanagan, Interior use new app for mental health calls

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“If the client is in the database already, we can search that client and pull up the particulars of the client. So if we’ve dealt with them before there’s likely some good information on there about their mental health challenges, their triggers, and their risk factors. What it also brings to the table is de-escalation techniques that other officers used to de-escalate that client.

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“If they’re in the database we’ll start the file with that, if they’re not we’ll add them and we will enter some of that information right off the bat.”

The app also has a mental health screener questionnaire officers can run through with the individual, which will then give police a Mental Health Risk Score.

“[The score] tells us if they’re at risk of a harm to themselves, or harm to others, or if we have concerns about them taking care of themselves,” Dodds explained.

“What [the app is] is a tool for the member to make a decision on whether they apprehend that client or not. The decision rests always with the member, this doesn’t just tell you to apprehend, it gives you a risk score and the police officer will decide whether or not, under the Mental Health Act, that person is apprehendable. This is a tool in our toolbelt to assist us with that.”

The information collected through the HealthIM app can then be shared to the local health care providers, giving hospital staff a heads up that a person suffering from a mental health or substance use crisis will be coming in and the background information needed to best provide them with treatment and not escalate the situation.

“[The HealthIM] data helps [health care staff] prepare accordingly, if they need extra support staff or what kind of support plan they need to have on site when they are receiving the patient,” Harwinder Sandhu, MLA for Vernon-Lumby, said at the announcement.

The app came online for police forces in the Okanagan, including the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP, Lake Country RCMP, and the Kelowna RCMP, on April 29, and will be coming online for the Thompson-Shuswap region May 27.

Police in the East Kootenays have had access to this app since February, and HealthIM was also in use by all municipal police and RCMP detachments on south Vancouver Island. Early findings from the use of the app in those areas showed HealthIM reduced apprehensions by 46 per cent, led to a 39 per cent reduction in hospital wait times, and increased hospital admission rates by 37 per cent.

“HealthIM has proven to be a valuable asset to help police officers safely and effectively de-escalate complex situations by promoting safer interactions with people in crisis,” Nina Krieger, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, said in a release.

The roll-out of the HealthIM app across the Southern Interior was done through a $2-million investment from the province to the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police.