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CAHOOTS Expands Both Service Hours And Its Influence In 2020

Brian Bull
/
KLCC

The mobile crisis intervention group that serves Eugene-Springfield has expanded its service hours.

CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) is nearing its 31st year of operation.  In that time, demand has increased for teams giving emergency mental and medical support to people in need, including many who are homeless.

Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
/
KLCC
A CAHOOTS crisis worker and medic talk to a homeless woman outside a Eugene church.

Now through $280,000 in the latest budget for the City of Eugene, CAHOOTS is adding five service hours for its Eugene response team. 

“That allows us to have two vans responding to calls at the same time from 10am to 10pm," says operations coordinator Tim Black. 

"And we’ve seen a drastic reduction in how long calls are holding before CAHOOTS teams are able to respond. 

"Our teams are able to breathe between calls instead of just running from one thing to the next.”

While CAHOOTS continues to expand its mental health and medical assistance services across the Eugene-Springfield area, its influence is extending well past the city.

Black says they continue to consult contacts in Vancouver (Washington), Denver, and San Francisco, on how a mobile crisis service can be implemented in their respective cities. 

Black adds CAHOOTS and White Bird Clinic staff are also helping the City of Portland with its Street Response Pilot Project, as well as another initiative.

"The Hygiene for All project is a really awesome idea because what it’s doing, is it’s creating an overnight hygiene resource for unhoused folks," Black explains.  "It’s going to be a bathroom that’s staffed by peers from 7pm to 7am, with handwashing, bathrooms, and a linen exchange as well as first aid supplies.”

CAHOOTS is credited for dealing with situations calling for mental health assistance, which frees up Eugene Police to deal with actual crimes.

Copyright 2020, KLCC.

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
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