Joliet Fire Department tackles broader public safety issues including mental health care – Shaw Local

The Joliet Fire Department is working to help the community access medical care for residents and address the root causes of the city’s mental health crisis.

During a public safety forum last week, Joliet Fire Chief Jeff Carey said the department’s mission is not just to respond to medical and fire calls, but to engage in robust outreach and education programs.

“If we can educate the community and mitigate and prevent issues before they occur, we can hopefully reduce the number of times we have to respond,” Carey said.

Emergency medical care

Although the number of structure fires in Joliet has declined, the fire department responded to a record number of calls for service last year, Carey said, with the majority of those calls being for emergency medical services.

Last year, Joliet’s ambulances responded to more than 19,000 calls for emergency treatment, Carey said.

Carey said heart disease remains the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. The Joliet Fire Department has responded to more than 300 cardiac arrests in the city, as well as 1,500 incidents involving other heart-related issues, Carey said.

The fire department has implemented a new technique called advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation and changed how CPR is performed, Carey said.

Before the change, paramedics were able to find a pulse in about 22 percent of people experiencing cardiac arrest in Joliet, according to the city’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

“After we changed our approach, basically just doing better CPR, we were able to get a pulse back in over 50 percent of cardiac arrests,” Carey said.

Carey said the fire department is also going further to treat cardiac issues by offering free classes on bleeding control, CPR and automated external defibrillators.

We still have a long way to go, but these results are a testament to the collaborative efforts between our community, our community partners and the City of Joliet.”

— Joliet Fire Chief Jeff Carey

Last year, the fire department trained more than 5,000 residents in the use of AEDs and CPR, including students at Joliet Township High School District 204 and the middle school, Carey said.

“It’s really important that we get as many citizens trained in CPR as possible and get as many AEDs in our communities as possible,” Carey said.

Community Risk

Carey said in 2020 the fire department sought to become more than just a “response organization” by participating in local risk reduction programs.

“The vision for our Community Risk Reduction Program is to work with families and individuals who face complex challenges and require resources from multiple sources,” Carey said.

Carey said the goal of the program is to keep residents safe and healthy and give them the opportunity to thrive. Annual community risk assessments have found there are significant calls for mental and behavioral health issues, Carey said.

Carey said barriers to mental health treatment in the city include access to care, cost and transportation.

Carey said fire department personnel are trained in emergency first aid to help bystanders who experience or witness a tragic incident. He said emergency first aid also helps fire department personnel.

“The key step in this program is to have a community risk reduction officer [program] “We’ll call them back and make sure they’re OK. A lot of times, all people need is to know that someone is there for them and will call them back when they need to,” Carey said.

In 2023, the city saw a 3% decrease in behavioral and mental health calls, and a 31% decrease in suicide rates, Carey said.

“We still have a long way to go, but these results are a testament to the collaborative efforts between our community, our community partners and the City of Joliet,” Carey said.

He said fire department personnel could be used to identify warning signs that residents may be struggling with mental health issues, such as not having their basic needs met.

“I can’t eat, I’ve lost my job, my car won’t start. [they] “Sometimes there’s an issue with not being able to get to work, so identifying those needs helps solve a lot of other issues that are going on,” Carey said.

Community Care Program

The Joliet Fire Department also works on a Community Cares program that connects people and families facing “complex challenges” in the city with resources from multiple area agencies.

The goal of the program is to identify people and families in need of local resources, identify the barriers that prevent them from receiving those resources and provide them with assistance, Carey said.

“The average client we see through our Community Care program will need four community resources to resolve their issue. Clients can get lost in this process, so we help guide them through that process,” Carey said.

Community Emergency Medicine

The Joliet Fire Department also works with the local paramedic program, Carey said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in community emergency medicine, emergency medical personnel provide services that fill gaps in the delivery of primary care, making non-urgent home visits to patients with chronic conditions and conducting general risk assessments.

Carey said growing numbers of baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) are retiring, and there aren’t enough millennials and Gen Xers to look after them.

Carey said the shortage of health workers “leaves underserved communities further behind in access to health care,” and that community paramedicine could be a solution to provide care while reducing hospital visits.

“One of the most successful community paramedicine programs in the country comes from Dallas-Fort Worth. [in Texas]”Over a five-year period, they saved the community over $800 million in Medicaid costs,” Carey said.