DE-ESCALATION TACTICS
Police agencies across P.E.I. sign up with MedicAlert to introduce a new critical service
Police agencies across P.E.I. sign up with MedicAlert to introduce a new critical service
Municipal police forces across P.E.I. armed themselves with more information on Tuesday designed to help officers respond to medical emergencies.
Police chiefs from Charlottetown, Kensington and Summerside signed a partnership agreement with the MedicAlert Foundation of Canada at a press conference at Charlottetown Police Services.
This partnership is designed to assist police in responding to issues involving those living with autism, Alzheimer’s, dementia, fetal alcohol spectrum, mental health-related issues and cognitive brain injuries.
“Every minute counts,’’ Charlottetown Police Chief Paul Smith said, referring to the benefit of having accurate information on someone as quickly as possible. “Information is a key component to policing. (This) will give our frontline officers quick database access to important information that will enable us to assist vulnerable persons.’’
Summerside Police Chief David Poirier will also be helping if anyone should need to be taken to hospital.
“It also helps to safeguard loved ones who may wander away from home because of a medical condition,’’ Poirier said.
Kensington Chief Lewis Sutherland added that it’s “a big step forward’’ for a province with a big seniors’ population and one with a heavy concentration of tourists each summer.
Helena Reeves, one of the managers for the P.E.I. chapter of the Stars for Life Foundation for Autism’s day program, said the program is invaluable for those on the spectrum.
“We have a lot of individuals . . . (who) wander and many of them are non-verbal or very low verbal,’’ Reeves said. “It’s not a visual disability so they might act differently than a normal person but if you come across them wandering you wouldn’t know what’s going on and they can’t tell you.’’
If that person is registered with MedicAlert, police would have instant access to a national database of information as to how to immediately assist them.
Such information would inform police, for example, how to keep a person’s anxiety level down. Officers responding to a call might be told not to use the emergency lights or siren as it would only agitate the person.
Corrine Hendricken-Eldershaw, CEO of Alzheimer’s P.E.I., said they’ve been partnering with MedicAlert since 2014. It’s actually imbedded in the curriculum at the justice institute in Summerside.
“We teach them a lot about what dementia is, what you need to keep top of mind when an individual is wandering and what the pattern is,’’ Hendricken-Eldershaw said. “We also teach police officers some communication tips and skills. This (MedicAlert database) is part of our conversations on a regular basis.’’
Francoise Faverjon-Fortin, CEO of the MedicAlert Foundation of Canada, said gone are the days when the bracelets were just used to alert physicians to a person’s allergies or the fact they had diabetes.
Faverjon-Fortin said now police have full access to that person’s medical file.
“Now, here on P.E.I., police services . . . are authorized to access the information through the partnership and, therefore, can dispatch the information (to) first responders that are en route,’’ Faverjon-Fortin said.
In the case of an autistic child, for example, officers might be told to bring a teddy bear or call them by a nickname.
“(They now have) information that will reduce the anxiety and allow . . . the police officer to approach the child without creating a crisis. We have deescalation information.’’