Hayward’s HEART program to pause Mihoo response while staff redesigns community paramedic model

Hayward staff briefed the City Council April 15 on the HEART program — the city’s multi-agency crisis-response effort pairing police, fire and behavioral-health clinicians to respond to mental-health, substance‑use and homelessness calls. Presenters described program accomplishments and data, and Fire Chief Vollmer recommended pausing the Mihoo team’s current staffing model to redesign a more sustainable community paramedic approach.

Program components and recent data: staff described three HEART components: HMET (a crisis-response team pairing a Hayward Police Department officer with a county behavioral-health clinician), Mihoo (a Mobile Integrated Health Unit staffed by fire personnel and community paramedics) and LINC (a mobile case-management/mobilized clinical team operating from the police department’s Youth and Family Services Bureau). During the most recently reported year staff said the program served roughly 469 unique individuals; HMET responded to nearly half of about 1,800 calls during the period, and staff logged 734 instances of case management serving 74 people in a one‑year span.

Chief’s recommendation: Fire Chief Vollmer told the council he recommends pausing the Mihoo unit’s current staffing model because 3 permanent firefighter positions have been reassigned from regular engine/truck staffing to Mihoo, creating ongoing overtime costs to backfill core firehouse shifts. “If we were to pause that now…annually we would save $1,200,000,” Vollmer said. He proposed redesigning the unit as a community paramedic model once dispatch and transport‑destination capacity are in place and when training and alternate destination protocols (with the local EMS agency) are secured.

Continuity and interim services: staff stressed that pausing Mihoo would not end HEART’s other teams. HMET and LINC would continue; staff are expanding off‑hours support by using motel vouchers, dedicating four shelter beds at South Hayward Parish for HEART referrals, and contracting with 988 crisis services to provide off‑hours messaging to the LINC line so non‑emergency callers can be triaged and receive next‑day follow‑up.

Council response and next steps: council members praised the program’s early results and urged rapid redesign. Members sought data on per‑person public‑cost reductions and on reoffending/use rates after HEART interventions; staff said deeper evaluation will follow. No formal action was taken April 15; Chief Vollmer asked the council to consider revising the staffing model and funding approach if the council wishes Mihoo to continue.