Frontier Behavioral Health expands mobile dispatch to 24/7 as crisis referrals rise

Frontier Behavioral Health told the Spokane County Behavioral Health Advisory Board that its mobile dispatch unit (MDU) now operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and handles warm transfers from the 988 crisis line and the regional crisis line to coordinate in‑person crisis responses. Jan Downing, chief operating officer at Frontier Behavioral Health, and Mike Sullivan, program administrator for the mobile dispatch unit, presented the program and recent data.

The mobile dispatch unit triages calls that first come to 988 or the regional crisis line. “If during the conversation that person is requesting an outreach or the person at 988 identifies that…this person is in a behavioral health crisis and they’re in need of an in‑person response, they then will complete a warm transfer with that person over to us,” Mike Sullivan said. The MDU’s crisis triage specialist stays on the line…