FD Cares program celebrates 10th year in Kent of helping residents

A 26-year-old woman with a history of auditory and visual hallucinations, moved to Kent earlier this year and called 911 a total of 75 times due to anxiety between the end of March through June.

The woman was connected to a mental health provider but was not engaged in services. She self-reports taking fentanyl to help deal with the hallucinations and anxiety and chooses not to take her medication.

But after building a relationship with the Fire Department Community Assistance, Referrals and Education Services program, known as FD Cares, the response team was able to redirect the woman away from calling 911 when experiencing her symptoms as they were non-emergent.

The woman was referred to the Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) where she would receive 24/7 wrap-around care from crisis interventionist, and psychiatric assistance to include substance use treatment.

“The patient has only called 911 one time in the months of July, August, and September and has been taking her psychiatric medication and been through detox,” said Puget Sound Fire spokesperson Pat Pawlak in an email.

Pawlak shared that story as an example of the type of work the FD Cares unit provide as the Kent-based Puget Sound Fire program turned 10 years old this month. The program, staffed by nurses and social workers, saves lives and resources while fostering a healthier community.

Employees of the program are kept plenty busy as they handled calls previous assigned to Puget Sound Fire firefighters and provide follow-up visits.

The units have responded to 1,021 calls through Sept. 9 of this year, according to Pawlak. They went on 779 calls in 2023.

In another example shared by Pawlak, a 911 call came in from an 80-year-old man for his daughter who was unresponsive. The daughter needed CPR and was taken to the hospital by King County Medic One paramedics. The father is legally blind and his daughter was his full-time caregiver.

FD Cares was added to the scene to assist with finding respite care for the father. While they were taking care of him and the dog in the house, they received word that the daughter did not survive. The team coordinated care to get the man into an adult family home and safe with follow up care for him and talked with the family in California to make sure they were aware of the situation.

The team also took care of the dog in the house and was able to work with animal control because they had found a home for the dog. This call took over six hours to coordinate all the care for the man and his family. The man continued to engage with FD Cares as they coordinated with the family to potentially move him to California.

How program began

The foundation for the program began in 2010 when Battalion Chief Mitch Snyder, now retired, identified a need for a different service for non-emergent medical calls. After extensive research and collaboration was completed, the first response unit was put in-service on Sept. 8, 2014. This response unit was staffed with two firefighters to specifically respond to non-emergent 911 calls.

On April 24, 2015, Gov. Jay Inslee sighed into law State Senate Bill 5591 – Community Assistance, Referral, and Education Services Programs enabling providers of emergency medical services to develop community assistance referral and education services programs.

This led to Puget Sound Fire hiring its first three registered nurses and one social worker, Pawlak said. The staffing model was changed to one firefighter and one registered nurse. This unit responded to low-acuity calls and connected patients with the appropriate level of care and resources so that on-duty firefighters would be available for emergent 911 calls.

Over the years the program has expanded, and Puget Sound Fire now employs nine registered nurses and nine social workers and staff four full-time FD Cares units.

In addition to Kent, the service is provided to residents in Covington, Maple Valley, SeaTac, Tukwila and Fire Districts 37 and 43, each served by Puget Sound Fire.

Puget Sound Fire also provides the service to the communities that are served by the Renton Regional Fire Authority, King County Fire District 20 (Skyway) and the Enumclaw Fire Department.

To assist with addressing the community’s needs, Puget Sound Fire has partnered with the Kent and Renton police departments to provide co-response to behavioral/mental health, housing insecurity and other social services.

“The lives changed by the men and women who work on our FD Cares unit for our community members over the last 10 years is truly unbelievable,” said Puget Sound Fire Deputy Chief Aaron Tyerman. “This is a special group of people, and a great addition to our organizations.”

Members, nurses and social workers, of Puget Sound Fire’s FD Cares programs. COURTESY PHOTO, Puget Sound Fire