There is a new operation at the Drumheller RCMP that will help not only those in our community, but a number of communities in East Central Alberta.
Drumheller RCMP now operates a Regional Police and Crisis (RPAC) Team out of our local detachment but the team will help detachments in Oyen, Hanna, Three Hills, Olds, Beiseker, Stettler, and Strathmore. The team members are Constable Victor Iliescu and Registered Psychiatric Nurse Julia Davis. According to Cst. Iliescu, this was needed in Drumheller as the closest team was hours away. “Cochrane (RCMP) has an RPAC team that used to cover up to this area. Obviously, with such vast distances extending all the way out to Oyen, the team was going to be stretched pretty thin. With having a team in Drumheller, we are going to be able to take some of that load off of them and assist with mental health calls as they arise.”
Davis has had experience as a member of a crisis team previously, and has relocated to Drumheller to join this team. “I came from BC and I was previously working with a mental health crisis team in Nanaimo. Prior to that, I was working in Edmonton on a crisis team there. I’ve been doing crisis work for 12 years and mental health work for 18 years.”
Cst. Iliescu shares when the RPAC team is engaged to help in situations. “We get referred to mental health incidents, sometimes for follow up. What we do during those follow up situations is we have an in person assessment with that person and assess where they are, mentally speaking. We can do things like relay somebody towards resources, chat with them, work on safety plans, things like that, to make sure they don’t get to a stage where they don’t need to be apprehended. If the situation warrants it, they can taken to a hospital (and apprehended).” Due to the vast area they cover, mainly they will be called in after the RCMP members but the team is available to all of the members in the area to be contacted in the moment needed for advice.
A key asset is Davis, as a psychiatric nurse, has access to medical and psychiatric records through the Province. “With me, working with Recovery Alberta, then I have the ability to look at someone’s health record and to be able to provide that collateral information that may help RCMP in that situation.” Davis can also provide details to the person’s care team in instances where someone may not be taken into care.
There is a need for this team as Drumheller RCMP had 117 mental health calls last year and that is only for the Drumheller Detachment. This team will be available to eight other detachments in our area. There are currently 20 RPAC teams in the province, with five of those based in city detachments like Red Deer, Grande Prairie, and Fort McMurray.
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