Community Paramedicine
Community Paramedicine is a creative approach to providing care to communities. San Francisco’s Community Paramedicine programs allow us to collaborate with other City agencies and provide tailored services to traditionally under-privileged populations of the City, some of whom are not served best by the standard emergency care system.
The members of the Community Paramedicine Division, led by Assistant Deputy Chief Simon Pang, provide proactive, compassionate, and respectful care that connects people to appropriate resources for their medical, mental health, and social needs. Our teams can assist in providing immediate stabilization of medical and behavioral health emergencies, as well as helping our community to navigate an often-confusing array of services for those not experienced in obtaining care. This means helping to connect people to housing, primary and mental health care, detox services, pre-hospital treatment plans, and virtually any other service that can assist our populations in need. We advocate for those who may have difficulty fending for themselves.
The San Francisco Fire Department has three Community Paramedicine programs:
- EMS-6, which focuses on the highest users of the emergency care system
- Street Crisis Response Team (SCRT), which responds to individuals experiencing behavioral crises
- Street Overdose Response Team (SORT), which responds in real-time to drug overdose survivors