Program Benefits

Increase Safety

Responders alerted to care considerations prior to establishing contact with a person in crisis.
De-escalation information supports peaceful resolution of interactions.
Weapons possession and violent behaviour flagged for Responders and healthcare staff.
Notification system alerts community partners to incoming persons escorted by emergency responders.

Improve Crisis Outcomes

Standardized clinical language supports care planning at partner healthcare agencies.
Responders empowered to make the best outcome decision based on the needs of the person in crisis.
Real-time access to data and performance metrics provides community leadership with information needed for policy and program development.

Effective Oversight

Standardized digital format allows for real time analysis of performance data.
Support for Quality Assurance and Professional Standards personnel.
Aggregate anonymized data provides insights into response patterns and performance metrics for policy makers.

POLICE INITIATIVE ‘SAVES LIVES’

Health IM proved its usefulness day one of its implementation.

When Belleville Police Cst. Ryan Laycoe finished his Health IM training course, he didn’t expect to be using it on the first day it launched. But on October 29 the system got its first mental health referral for what would become an invaluable law enforcement clinical screening tool.

“The program saves lives,” said Belleville Police Chief Ron Gignac.

Laycoe said his favourite feature of the tool would be the information provided by other officers regarding how best to communicate with a specific person in crisis.

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POLICE PROGRAM TO DEAL WITH MENTAL HEALTH CALLS PAYS OFF IN KAWARTHA LAKES

Kawartha Lakes Police Chief Mark Mitchell remembers the days when an officer who took a person suffering a mental health crisis to the hospital would have to wait for hours until the patient received medical care.

“Sometimes we’d have to go to Peterborough or Whitby and it could take as long as six hours,” the chief says.

Those days are gone.

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SMARTPHONE APP HELPS BRANDON POLICE NAVIGATE MENTAL HEALTH CALLS, CONNECT PEOPLE WITH RESOURCES

It's a call police agencies across Canada get all too often — someone in mental distress threatening to harm themselves or others around them. But Brandon police say a new app available at the fingertips of front-line officers has helped more easily de-escalate situations and connect people to the most appropriate resource.

Police in the southwestern Manitoba city began using an app called HealthIM last summer. It was installed on duty-issued smartphones after the police service received provincial finding.

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DELTA POLICE FIRST IN B.C. TO USE NEW TECH TOOL FOR CALLS INVOLVING MENTAL-HEALTH CRISES

Delta police became the first police force in B.C. to use the HealthIM app that’s linked to the Surrey hospital’s emergency department. Police responding to calls involving a mental-health concern use a 25-question checkbox tool based on their observations of the individual. Once they input the information into the app on their mobile phones, they see a score that determines whether an individual needs to be apprehended under the Mental Health Act and taken to the ER. If the score doesn’t add up to that, then the police can link individuals to community mental-health services.

At least if you’re a member of the Delta Police, which is the first police force in British Columbia trained to use HealthIM, a new technology created to help assess individual mental health meltdowns already in use by several other police detachments across Canada.

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Protection of Individual Privacy Rights

HealthIM encryption practices comply with provincial and federal privacy legislation to protect the privacy rights of vulnerable persons in crisis.

Privacy Compliance

System access is limited to authorized law enforcement and healthcare personnel. Activity tracked via audit log. Information is anonymized at source for transmission and data is end-to-end encrypted both in transit and at rest.

Data Security

Compliant with FIPS 140-2 and CSE cryptographic standards for “PROTECTED B” data. Fully redundant Tier III server infrastructure. 4096 bit RSA encryption across TLS protected channels.

HealthIM in the Community

“HealthIM provides seamless, collaborative engagement between our clients, our community partners, and interagency programs. It allows for community partnerships to continue to look for innovative ways to assist an individual through their mental health, or, crisis situation.”

Jodine Szabo
Westman Crisis Services
Prairie Mountain Health

“As a community addictions and mental health service provider we are very excited about the increased level of referrals and engagement the HealthIM software has helped create. Police have become one of our largest external sources for referrals. Implementing HealthIM in our community has lead to more people becoming engaged in the healthcare system and receive the support they need to maintain wellness.”

Derek McGeachy
Senior Manager of Operations
Addictions and MH Services -
Hastings Prince Edward

“Operational expediency and efficiencies in uniform patrol operations were realized. The ability to leverage information across different public service sectors has improved our policy development, staffing and tactical decision making. We have a stronger understanding of those in our community suffering from mental health challenges and are responding in a safer and more coordinated fashion.”

Deputy Chief Gord Perrier
Deputy Chief, Operations
Winnipeg Police Service

Increase safety.

Improve crisis outcomes.

Effective oversight.

The HealthIM System

HealthIM software supports responders during emergency mental health crisis calls.

HealthIM consists of four components:

Pre-Response Safety Briefing

Mental Health Risk Screener

Inter-Agency Communication

Reporting and Analytics

Program Benefits

Protection of Individual Privacy Rights

Want to learn more?

HealthIM Resources

HealthIM in the Community