The primary goal of the CARES Team is to improve quality of life and reduce unnecessary use of the emergency health care system by addressing a client’s needs based on the social determinants of health. Many times, Fire Department personnel encounter an individual who has significant needs apart from their physical health needs. When they encounter these situations, Fire Department EMS providers make a referral to the CARES Team requesting a follow-up visit.

Community Assistance Response Team (CARES) offered at City of Spokane Fire Department

Organizations that make an effort to increase the availability and utilization of community services by specific target populations by providing direct services for targeted individuals in their homes or other convenient locations or by making special efforts to ensure that a particular group is aware of available services and encouraged to participate. Included are programs that do outreach regarding their own services as well as those which encourage a target population to use a wide variety of services.

Outreach Programs

Programs that develop plans for the evaluation, treatment and/or care of individuals who, because of age, illness, disability or other difficulties, need assistance in planning and arranging for services; which assess the individual's needs; coordinate the delivery of needed services; ensure that services are obtained in accordance with the case plan; and follow up and monitor progress to ensure that services are having a beneficial impact on the individual. Case management is a collaborative process characterized by communication, advocacy and resource management to promote high quality, cost-effective interventions and outcomes.

Case/Care Management

Programs that use specially equipped mobile vehicles to deliver basic health care services to vulnerable and/or remote populations that are unable to access a community health care facility. The mobile clinics make scheduled stops in different neighborhoods and offer a wide variety of services which may include general physical examinations, pediatric services, health screening, vision screening, flu shots, childhood immunizations, laboratory services, WIC certification, STI screening and treatment, family planning services, pregnancy testing and treatment for minor illnesses. Included are street medicine programs that use outreach workers to seek out and provide primary health care services for unsheltered homeless people living on the streets, under bridges, in abandoned buildings or wherever else they stay.

Mobile Health Care

Programs that are staffed by outreach workers who spend time with people who live on the street, build relationships with them, identify and address their immediate needs (e.g., crisis intervention, food, clean clothing, hygiene kits, blankets, someone to listen) and provide information about and linkage to longer-term forms of support such as shelter, counseling, drug and alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation, care/case management and, where applicable, family reunification services. Street outreach programs may be staffed by volunteers or peers who were formerly homeless; and may target special populations such as homeless youth at risk for sexual abuse or exploitation, veterans, or people with specific medical or mental health conditions, or be available to the larger homeless population.

Street Outreach Programs

Programs that use specially equipped mobile vehicles to deliver non-emergency mental health care services to vulnerable and/or remote populations that are unable to access a mental health care facility. The mobile clinics may drive to a specific individual or make scheduled stops in different neighborhoods and offer a wide variety of services which may include general wellness programs, mental health assessments, screening for suicide risk, counseling, psychiatry, harm reduction and substance use disorder-related support, and connection to telehealth appointments. Included are street outreach programs that use outreach workers to seek out and provide mental health care services for people experiencing homelessness.

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Community Assistance Response Team (CARES) offered at City of Spokane Fire Department