REMARKS
Council Member Linda Lee's opening remarks on behavioral health emergency response hearing
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4 min
Council Member Linda Lee, chair of the Committee on Mental Disabilities in Addiction, delivers opening remarks for a hearing on the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) program and responses to mental health crises. She introduces the hearing's purpose, acknowledges attendees, and outlines the legislation to be discussed.
- Two pieces of legislation are mentioned: Intro 532 and Intro 1019, relating to non-public school security and mental health emergency response data, respectively.
- Lee provides an overview of the B-HEARD program, its goals, and the committees' interests in understanding its implementation and effectiveness.
- She expresses interest in recently announced policy strategies and newly released B-HEARD data.
Linda Lee
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We have been anticipating this hearing for quite some time, and I'm very excited that the day has finally come.
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I just wanna thank all the advocates for being here.
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I wanna thank the admin and all this staff for being here and the chairs and my co chairs because I gotta say we're we have council members who have very crazy schedules.
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So to get 4 council chairs in the room at the same time to schedule something was very, very difficult.
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So I appreciate all of you being here.
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And as I say, good morning.
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My name is Linda Lee, chair of the Committee on Mental Disability's In Addiction.
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And, of course, I just wanted to take time to thank my co chairs, Joanne Ariola, chair of the Committee on Fire And Emergency Management.
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Mercedes And Narcisses, Chair of Committee on Hospitals, and you Yousef Salam, Chair of the Committee on Public Safety.
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And before we begin, I'd like to note that we are joined by council members, Riley Abraiyu, our public advocate, Council member Stevens, council member Keban, and, of course, council member chair Narcis, chair Salam, chair Ariola, council member Brandon, council member Lewis, council member Shulman, council member Dela Rosa, council member Holden, And then on Zoom, we have council member Heneif and council member Moya.
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And I would also like to thank, as I mentioned, everyone who has joined us today for this long overdue and important hearing on behavioral health emergency response, division, also known as be heard, and responses to mental health crises.
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We will be hearing 2 pieces of legislation today, intro number 532, sponsored by council member Justin Brandon, as well as introduction number 1019, sponsored by council member Brandon and myself, in relation to reporting and publication of mental health emergency response data.
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In June 2021, New York City implemented a pilot program in East Harlem in parts of Central And North Harlem where both mental health, mental, and physical health professionals responded to 911 mental health crisis calls referred to as be heard.
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According to OCMH, be heard teams operate 7 days a week 16 hours a day and include 2 EMTs and paramedics from FDNY EMS, as well as mental health professionals such as licensed clinical social workers from h and h.
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The goal of the program is to route 911 mental health calls to be heard teams when appropriate to increase connection to community based care, reduce unnecessary voluntary transports to hospitals, and reduce unnecessary use of police resource.
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Resources.
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At this hearing, the committees will seek an update on and an in-depth overview of the BEHARD program, including efforts to maintain and improve the program as well as any plans for its expansion.
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We are very interested in hearing more about the newly implemented policy strategies that the administration announced this past Friday, as well as the most recent BEHA data that has been released.
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The committees are also interested in understanding the roles of each agency involved in carrying out the program, how data is collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the be heard program, and any other issues that have arisen related to the implementation or evaluation of the program, all things I'm super interested in because I love data, and also figuring out how to coordinate between agencies.
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Today, we look forward to hearing from the administration and members of public and other interested stakeholders, including those with LIV's experiences who have taken the time to come here today and join us.
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So thank you so much.
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We thank you all.
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I would like to thank my own staff as well as those of the 3 committee staff members who worked so hard to prepare this hearing.
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There was a lot of prep involved.
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And finally, I'd like to thank the mental health disabilities and addiction committee staff, legislative counsel Sarah Sutra, legislative counsel John Larossa, senior legislative policy analyst, Christy Dwyer Rose Martinez, assistant deputy director of data, and Daniel Heifetz financial analysis.
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And now sorry, analyst.
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I will now pass it along to my colleagues for their opening remarks.
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Beginning with chair Ariola followed by chair nurses and then chair Salam.
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Oh, and I'd also like to recognize council member, Mammarato.
