A program designed to help address patients’ non-emergency mental health and quality-of-life concerns was widely used in its first full year of implementation, according to the head of the Naperville Fire Department.
Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis presented the city council with a presentation that included various pieces of data pertaining to the Naperville Fire Department’s Community Advocate Response Team program, which was first piloted in January 2022 and rolled out full-time in January 2024.
‘Never a day’ CART isn’t utilized
In its first two years in operation, CART was running in limited intervals to work within the confines of the Naperville Fire Department’s existing staffing chart for EMS personnel.
The city council approved the addition of six firefighters and paramedics for Naperville’s fiscal year 2024 budget to allow for the program to go full-time last year.
“There is never a day that CART is not activated,” Puknaitis said as he poured over data from the calls that have been taken as the program has gained more widespread popularity within the community.
The current full-time team consists of one dedicated unit, two paramedics, three shifts, and is operating 24 hours per day.
A look at the numbers for the fire department CART program
More than three-quarters of CART’s calls are non-emergency, Puknaitis indicated, and are directly correlated to mental health-related issues.
The program, Puknaitis said, has been successful and well received because of its simple mission: “If you find yourself at the end of the rope, at the end of the line, there is help for you.”
By diverting such calls directly to CART personnel, Puknaitis indicated resources are freed up for existing personnel to respond to other types of emergency calls.
All told this past year, CART personnel responded to 1,488 incidents in 2024. Of that figure, 1,005 patients did not require transport to a hospital.
“We’re not seeing a decrease in that,” Puknaitis said of trending data. “We’re seeing an increase.”
Follow-ups with patients part of CART program
Another key component of the structural nature of CART and its service model is follow-up calls to patients after an initial visit. Last year, Puknaitis said CART personnel performed a total of 1,536 follow-ups with patients in the community.
The follow-ups came in several forms, including home visits, telephone calls and emails. The follow-ups are intended to help ensure the patient is receiving the services available to help meet their needs.
“We’ll do follow-up services as many times as possible to make sure the patient is on the right track,” Puknaitis said.
Mayor Scott Wehrli lauded the program and its effectiveness at the recent city council meeting.
“This is a real feather in Naperville’s cap,” Wehrli said.
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