Community Alternative Response Emergency Servies (CARES)
An alternative emergency response to mental health crises and behavioral emergenies, CARES is a two-person response team compsiresed of Saint Paul Fire Department Emergency Medical Technicians, which will soon include an embedded social worker in partnership with Ramsey County.
Our CARES Team responds to non-violent mental health crises and behavioral emergencies within Saint Paul. Teams interact with some of our most vulnerable residents at local resource centers, shelters, and in their spaces, following up with those after a crisis in an effort to connect them with services they may need.
The CARES Team also engages our neighbors at times when they are not in crisis, as relationship-building is a core tenet of our Community-First Public Safety framework.
What are the goals of CARES?
- Reduce frequent or repetative use of emergency services by connecting patients with additional supportive services
- Provide a response capability reducing the need for an emergent police, fire, and/or EMS response
- Appropriate care recommendations for our most vulnerable population, diverting arrest or transport to emergency rooms to provide transport to more appropriate care
CARES Program Coordinator
CARES is headquartered at Fire Station 1 at 645 Randolph Avenue. The program's Coordinator is Deputy Chief Dwayne Gibbs. Chief Gibbs started with the Saint Paul Fire Department in 1994, where he worked as a Firefighter/Paramedic until 2004. Chief Gibbs went on to work with Harvest Youth Center with at-risk youth and as a program director for Prison Fellowship at Lino Lakes Correctional Facility. He rejoined the Saint Paul Fire Department in February of 2022 to serve as the CARES Coordinator.
Currently, CARES responds to calls citywide on weekdays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.. As capacity grows, CARES is intended to expand to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
