Harris County Public Health outlines HEART, RISE violence‑prevention programs to Galena Park ISD SHAC

Harris County Public Health told Galena Park ISD’s School Health Advisory Council on Tuesday that two community‑based programs are designed to respond to nonviolent emergencies and link residents to services.

At the meeting, Stephanie Ramirez, a CHVPS presenter, said the Community Health and Violence Prevention Services Division runs HEART, an unarmed first‑responder program that responds to “non violent nine‑one‑one calls” and aims to address social determinants of health that drive violent outcomes. “We respond to non violent nine‑one‑one calls,” she said.

The nut graf: The presentation detailed how HEART and RISE work together — HEART as an on‑scene, two‑person unit (a crisis‑intervention specialist and a licensed EMT) that provides behavioral de‑escalation and basic life‑support care, and RISE as a community and hospital‑based team that uses credible messengers to prevent retaliation and link victims to long‑term services. Officials said these programs are intended to free up law‑enforcement and emergency medical services for high‑risk calls while providing follow‑up case management for consenting residents.

Courtney Morales, HEART program coordinator, said HEART currently operates 13 two‑person units with a goal of 23 and that case managers contact consenting clients within 24 business hours after an encounter. “We currently have 13 units operating. Our goal is to have 23,” Morales said. She listed common HEART call types as welfare checks, “meet the citizen,” suspicious‑person reports, mental‑health calls and unknown medical emergencies. Morales emphasized that HEART screens calls to ensure there is no credible threat, no visible weapons and no violent behavior before responding.

Officials described a layered response: HEART provides immediate on‑scene support, including crisis de‑escalation, basic medical care and transportation to psychiatric facilities when clients consent; case managers document service linkages and, when needs are more complex, transfer clients to ACCESS for longer‑term care. Morales said the program transitioned from vendor staffing to being fully in‑house earlier this year.

RISE, the division’s outreach and interruption team, was presented as the second prong of the strategy. Ramirez said RISE employs ‘credible messengers’ — people with shared lived experience who intervene before or after incidents to reduce retaliation and create safety plans. The team works in community zones (including Cypress Station and parts of South Houston, Sunnyside and South Union) and in hospital settings; presenters named Ben Taub Hospital and HCA Northwest (Cypress Station area) as sites for bedside engagement.

Program figures cited at the meeting said the RISE team has engaged roughly 25,000 people and reported about 135 prevented incidents since the program began. Presenters framed those numbers as measures of reach rather than precise case‑level outcomes.

Attendees asked how schools can connect with the programs; presenters said school administrators can refer cases to CHVPS and that the teams will coordinate with districts and administrators on interventions. Presenters urged residents to use 9‑1‑1 or the nonemergency sheriff’s line for HEART‑eligible calls and provided CHVPS contact information for partner inquiries.

The presentation closed with staff offering to stay after the meeting for one‑on‑one questions as the team expands outreach into Cloverleaf.

The SHAC meeting packet and presenters’ cards include phone and email contact information for CHVPS; the speakers encouraged residents to call or text 9‑1‑1 for eligible incidents and to use the nonemergency sheriff’s line for other concerns.