Round Rock looks to improve Crisis Response Unit with state money
ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) -- When your home is on fire or you're involved in a car crash, the first thing you want to see is the big red truck that says, "Round Rock Fire Department" on it. It's equipped with all the necessary resources and manpower needed to respond to emergencies.
But for Annie Burwell, an employee of the fire department, it's not her choice of vehicle when she is working.
"It's a little too big for me," Burwell said with a smile. She is the program manager of the city's Crisis Response Unit, a 13-member team full of medical professionals and behavioral specialists that respond to mental health crises.
The CRU is better equipped than police officers and firefighters to handle these situations. It has more time to work with individuals and get them the help they need while freeing up police and fire to respond to other emergencies.
"Keeping people out of emergency departments if they don't need to go. Keeping people out of jail," Burwell explained.
The team was created in 2022 because of a need for one in Round Rock. According to data shared by Burwell, the CRU responded to 1,617 health crisis calls in 2023.
Instead of the big fire truck, Burwell responds to a crisis in her red SUV. In the back of the car are resources like leave-behind Narcan kits, and hygiene kits. A behavioral specialist would drive Burwell's car and would meet up with a medic, who drives their own SUV with their own equipment.
The medic and behavioral specialist will work together at a scene to determine what the best action is for the person or families they are responding to. Is the issue a medical one, or is it a behavioral health one? Does the person need to go to a hospital or mental health facility? Can we provide help here at the scene and avoid taking them anywhere? These are the types of questions that go through CRU team.
"Our team can arrive at someone's home and we can spend as long as we need to there," said Melanie Jones, a senior medical specialist with the CRU.
The team also has case workers that follow up with patients days, weeks, and even months after an emergency to ensure they are still receiving the help they need.
Helping someone in psychosis
A unique technique this team can utilize is the use of antipsychotic drugs. The drug is nothing new, but the ability to administer the drug in the field to someone who is experiencing psychosis is a new technique.
The CRU works with the Williamson County EMS medical director when administering those drugs. In order to give someone an antipsychotic, the patient must first give consent and understand what drug they are about to take, according to Jones.
It helped the CRU in a recent call they responded to with a patient experiencing psychosis.
"It kind of mitigated their symptoms enough for them to be able to engage in some follow up care for us to create a safety plan and work with them long-term," Jones said.
City requests for grant money
In March, the city of Round Rock submitted a request for $235,000 from the state's Crisis Intervention Grant Program. Burwell says that money would be used to take a deep dive into data from dispatch calls to make sure the CRU team is properly being utilized.
In order for the CRU to respond to a scene, it first starts with the dispatcher recognizing situations where the CRU team is needed.
Burwell added the money would also be used for funding a nurse practitioner and funding to provide housing to people who have a great potential for stabilization.
A spokesperson for the city of Round Rock said it won't know if it won the grant money until this summer. That money wouldn't start until October.