(The Center Square) \u2013 Patients with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses could be referred to CARE Court at the behest of first responders under a California Senate bill.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 989<\/a>, which was introduced by Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, would allow first responders to contact a county behavioral health department to request that the department petition to have the patient seen in CARE Court.<\/p>\n The bill was approved by the Assembly Health Committee Tuesday afternoon after testimonies supporting and opposing the bill.<\/p>\n CARE\u00a0stands for “Community, Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment.” The CARE Court program was established to help severely mentally ill people. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who championed the program, signed the bill that established California\u2019s CARE Court into law in 2022.<\/p>\n The program sought to provide care to those who are often only limited to receiving help at emergency rooms, jail and run-ins with the police, Blakespear testified before the committee.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know first responders are often the first point of contact for individuals in crisis,\u201d Blakespear told the committee. \u201cBut under current law, they must navigate a complex court filing process. They must obtain sensitive medical records, and they must appear in court to initiate a CARE Court petition. First responders obviously have barriers doing all parts of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of these hurdles, many mentally ill Californians who could benefit from CARE Court are never referred to the help they could receive in the CARE Court program, Blakespear testified.<\/p>\n The senator said her bill addresses that by involving first responders.<\/p>\n \u201cThis approach reduces administrative burdens, better align responsibilities with expertise and ensures that individuals who are in crisis are connected to care and not lost in the system,\u201d Blakespear testified.<\/p>\n Advocates of the bill said they support the ways that first responders could more easily involve county health officials in determining if someone is a good fit for CARE Court treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cI hear again and again that [firefighters] are often running 911 calls on the same individual in the community, transporting them to the hospital, understanding that they may not get the deeper level of care that they may need,\u201d Meagan Subers, governmental advocate for California Professional Firefighters, testified in support of the bill. \u201cWe see CARE as another tool for firefighters and other first responders to try to help make these connections to that deeper level of care.\u201d<\/p>\n According to a legislative analysis of the bill<\/a>, the county health department has 30 days to decide whether a patient qualifies for CARE Court and notify the first responder about the decision.<\/p>\n CARE Court is a voluntary program that connects mentally ill people with housing, medical care, therapy and other means of support. It aims to divert those with psychotic disorders away from more restrictive legal processes, like conservatorships.<\/p>\n Plans that include any of these ways of supporting a mentally ill person are ordered by the court, but still can\u2019t compel them to seek or stick with their court-ordered care plan \u2013 frustrating many families of mentally ill people who have gone through CARE Court already, according to news reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n