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Shaker Heights First Call and Ohio quick-response teams seek sustained funding to keep clinicians paired with first responders
Summary
Shaker Heights and task force leaders asked the Public Safety Committee for a $400,000 allocation to keep 'First Call' crisis clinicians embedded with police and fire; statewide deflection teams urged continued support, citing reductions in overdose deaths and service cost savings.
Shaker Heights officials and statewide deflection leaders urged lawmakers to fund programs that pair mental-health clinicians with first responders and to sustain quick-response teams that connect people to treatment after overdoses.
Mayor David Weiss and Fire Chief Patrick Sweeney described First Call, a Shaker Heights program that embeds mental-health professionals with police and fire to respond to behavioral-health incidents. Weiss told the House Public Safety Committee the program reduces risk during crisis response, eases strain on emergency departments, and lowers repeat calls for the same residents. Shaker Heights asked the committee to support a $400,000 budget allocation to continue and expand the program.
Thomas Fallon, former Hamilton County task force commander and director of the Ohio Deflection Association, described the expansion of quick-response team (QRT) deflection programs statewide. Fallon said Ohio now has roughly 80 deflection teams and that coordinated QRT response has contributed to reductions in overdose deaths in counties where teams operate. He cited data showing teams documented over 40,000 interactions and reached 21,000 individuals statewide in the last year; Fallon said a Montgomery County analysis found reductions in hospital-related costs for people who engaged with QRT services and presented cost-avoidance figures from cordata data used by teams.
Committee members asked how the clinicians are deployed; Weiss and Sweeney said First Call staff are dispatched alongside public-safety responders through regional dispatch and that coverage is scheduled to match peak demand rather than operate 24/7 in the pilot phase. Witnesses said programs can scale but need continuing funding to sustain clinician availability and expand to neighboring jurisdictions.
Both witnesses and committee members referenced existing grant programs and county partnerships that have supported pilots; speakers recommended considering county and state funding paths so communities can replicate the models.
