A mobile emergency mental health unit has won a Rotary International District award for exceptional community service for 2013-14.
North-west division 5’s Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew Hiam accepted the award on behalf of the Northern Police Ambulance Clinician Emergency Response (NPACER) unit at a ceremony in Shepparton.
NPACER units have been operating since November 2012 in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, servicing the local government areas of Whittlesea, parts of Hume, Darebin and Moreland.
The partnership of Victoria Police, Northern Area Mental Health Service, NorthWestern Mental Health Service and the Northern Hospital was initiated to streamline responses to emergencies involving people with mental health problems and to reduce demand on hospitals’ emergency departments.
Each two-man unit consists of a specially trained Victoria Police officer and a mental health clinician. They act as a secondary police resource following a request by an operational police unit attending an incident involving a psychiatric crisis.
