Tulsa Fire Mental Health Response Vehicle, ART-1, Celebrates One Year In Service

It's been a year since the launch of the Alternate Response Team One vehicle. Those behind the service say since then, it has helped hundreds of people. 

Commonly known as ART-1, the vehicle is used by the Tulsa Fire Department and Family and Children Services to respond to those having a mental health crisis. ART-1 made just under 100 calls in its first year, freeing up police, other firefighters and EMSA to respond to other calls. 

The vehicle is staffed with a crisis intervention trained Tulsa Fire Department paramedic, along with a clinician from Family and Children Services. 

Tulsa Fire Director of Emergency Medical Services Justin Lemery said even though ART-1 provides a medical evaluation, social assessment and connecting individuals to more services, the care doesn't stop there.

"We respond just like your traditional response or your 9-1-1 call, but there's also a continuum of care, so they're going to follow back up with that individual who was in crisis that day and make sure that they're receiving and connecting to the right resources in the community to get the help they need," Lemery said. 

Lemery said the Tulsa Fire Department is looking for ways to expand the services to cover more of the city and build on what alternate response team one has done this year.