HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/24/2021 Item 6b, Greening
Delgado, Adriana
From:Eric Greening <dancingsilverowl@gmail.com>
Sent:Wednesday,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Eric Greening thoughts on the Mobile Crisis Unit!
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Hello!
First, I'd like to thank the City of San Luis Obispo for moving in such a positive direction with the RFP and vehicle for a
new mobile crisis unit! This fills a previously vacant niche in the emergency response ecosystem.
Secondly, I'd like to share some thoughts occasioned by Councilmember Marx's questions based on finding someone
apparently unresponsive on a sidewalk. There could be all sorts of possible explanations, but one I would like to
highlight is that it could have been a person with epilepsy immediately post-seizure; sometimes there is a limp,
quiescent, unconscious or semiconscious phase before the person begins to stir and to respond. It is possible that no
help is needed, but if help is summoned, a Mobile Crisis Unit is ideal simply because of its LACK of lights and sirens. The
LAST thing a person with epilepsy needs, during or post-seizure, is the violent stimulus of flashing lights (which have
gotten more and more frenetic as the decades pass) and sirens (likewise), which can throw a person right back into
seizure, or, if the emergency vehicle(s) should arrive during a seizure, could protract a seizure that would otherwise have
resolved, bringing about the genuine medical emergency of status epilepticus.
While I can speak from the experience of someone with epilepsy, I can't help but speculate that many other people in
crisis can be more receptive to assistance if needed, in the ABSENCE of flashing lights and sirens that intensify a SENSE of
crisis and ramp up its intensity. The agressively noisy fuss of such inhuman stimuli are themselves a source of trauma! It
could be helpful, then, if police, fire, and ambulance units responding to any sort of crisis, to the extent it can be safely
done, turn OFF the lights and sirens during arrival at the scene being responded to. If something is necessary to keep
traffic away, good old fashioned flares can do the job much more quietly.
In any event, I am very grateful that the City of San Luis Obispo is taking this step, and hope that supporters can be
alerted any time advocacy might be needed on the County level, especially if it is needed before the next budget
cycle. Of course, ultimately, I would love to see mobile crisis unit coverage on more of a regional level, and working
through the County and tapping the funds available to the County would seem to be the best way to attain this. In the
meantime, those of us elsewhere in the County can study the example of the city's Mobile Crisis Unit, and we should be
very grateful to the city's leadership in providing this example!
Many thanks, Eric Greening
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