Someone CARES

The story of the beginnings of Eastern Washington University’s CARES Program is maybe not all that different from a memorable television commercial.

Remember, the one with the lines, “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter,” followed by “You got your peanut butter in my chocolate,” an ad for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?

Seems that back in 2006 the Spokane Fire Department and EWU’s School of Social Work each had a mission that needed to get accomplished.

Part of the inspiration for the CARES (Community Assisted Response) program came from an incident Spokane Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer related.

Arriving at a 911 call he found an elderly man had fallen out of bed and his wife was unable to help. The home was familiar because it had numerous previous calls. After spending several hours with the couple, Schaeffer tried unsuccessfully to find a solution that could assist them — and others — to find help, other than with a quick call to those three familiar digits.

Then came a call from Lisa Parise who was doing research of her own to find a place for one of her students to do a practicum in social work — specifically with the Fire Department.

In a serendipitous moment, Parise, director of field education and training for the School of Social Work, made a call to Schaeffer. He told her that the work the student wanted to do was already being done by paid professionals.

But what came out of the conversation was more research on both sides that resulted in formation of the CARES Team.

Crafted in part out of a similar program in Arizona where volunteers would go out and deal with the after effects of a 911 call, the newly titled CARES program put students at the heart of crisis intervention as maybe nothing else could.

What really connected the university program and the Spokane Fire Department was a similar code of ethics, Parise said. After some study it was determined the two would be a very good match.

In the initial days of CARES, two students, along with Parise and Schaeffer, were tasked with doing research and developing the program. “One of the thoughts was they would focus on the over use of 911,” Parise said.

“Often there’s a caller who will dial 911 multiple times,” Parise said. “We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of times and have the same or similar issue.”

And the Fire Department is required to respond at a going rate of about $400 per hour, or more.

“A full truck, decked out and everybody’s on scene to deal with the same issue over and over again,” Parise explained. “(It) is more of a social issue and not really a fire emergency issue.”

To the caller, however, that’s what they know, to call 911 when there is a problem, Parise said. “That’s what they do,” as was the case with Schaeffer’s husband and wife example that started the CARES ball rolling.

Students work out of a variety of fire stations in Spokane, Spokane Valley, and others. The CARES program had about 400 calls in 2014 Parise said. “It ebbs and flows.”

Currently there are 12 social work students in the program, plus something new with the addition of two nursing students. “We brought in nursing students because they need to do a practicum, also,” Parise said.

The two disciplines were a good match because they can assess both the mental and physical health of a client, Parise explained. The nursing students check on medicine use and might find out why a client is confused and dials 911 first.

“The students love working with the firefighters because they share similar love of caring,” Parise said.

The Spokane program has created spin-offs in Bellevue, Tri Cities and Walla Walla.

“We pretty much, if anybody asks, just give them the material,” Parise said. “We don’t feel like it is something we want to own, but share.” People visit from other states about once a month looking to get similar programs started.

Daily work can include a variety of tasks, from making sure a hospitalized client’s dog is OK and fed to dealing with a family recently evicted from an apartment. “The students love it because no two days are alike,” Parise said.

“The cost savings to the community is huge if we can stop putting a BandAid on it and fix it, or at least lead them to a direction that is better,” Parise said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com