When the Round Rock Fire Department's crisis response unit responds to around 110 calls per monthabout 20% to 35% of them involving someone suffering a mental health crisisit's often because first responders don't know how to deal with those in that situation.
Now, thanks to a $235,000 grant from the Texas State Crisis Intervention Program, the department will be able to provide training to first responders on how to interact with those in a mental crisis, provide short-term housing to those in crisis, and contract a nurse practitioner to prescribe medications, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
The grant will also help the department analyze data from its dispatch center to figure out how many calls received a mental health component and how to use existing resources to respond to them.
"The goals of the city's programs are to assist people with the best and highly skilled service while freeing up resources, diverting people in crisis from inappropriate placements at emergency departments or the jail and saving taxpayer dollars, Bustilloz says.
"This grant represents an opportunity to continue building on the foundation's established and advance our response capabilities for the future," Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan says.
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
When Hannah Davis traveled to China to teach English, she noticed how Chinese workers and farmers were often sporting olive green army-style shoes. Those shoes served as her inspiration to create her own social enterprise, Bangs Shoes.