The Adams administration is planning to resign the town’s non-police psychological well being response crew program, or B-HEARD, shifting it from the purview of the FDNY.
Below the modifications introduced by Metropolis Corridor, NYC Well being + Hospitals, which at the moment operates this system with FDNY, would completely run this system.
“This new model for B-HEARD will allow our FDNY EMTs the opportunity to focus further on other emergency response units as part of our city’s efforts to improve ambulance response times and use our resources more efficiently, while still addressing mental health emergencies we continue to see playing out in our city,” Mayor Adams, who leaves workplace on the finish of the yr, mentioned in an announcement.
The shift away from a public security response bears some similarity with the longer term Mamdani administration’s push to develop this system and alter the best way the town offers with psychological well being emergencies. Zohran Mamdani has pledged to place this system below the duty of the brand new Division of Neighborhood Security and rent peer counselors to reply to the psychological well being crises.
“We remain confident that Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will implement his full vision for B-HEARD within the Department of Community Safety so we can finally meet our city’s dire mental health crisis head-on and deliver excellent public safety for all New Yorkers,” Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec mentioned in response to the announcement.
Katz, who mentioned he’s hoping to remain in his position below Mamdani, emphasised that the brand new mannequin might make it simpler to scale up this system and will assist sufferers discover long-term care for the reason that H+H already gives a bulk of psychological well being companies within the metropolis. B-HEARD at the moment operates in lower than half of the town’s 78 police precincts.
The revamped response groups would made up of a nurse, social employee and ambulance driver, as a substitute of EMT responders. EMT employees might be reassigned inside FDNY as soon as the transition goes into impact in Spring 2026, mentioned Dr. Mitch Katz, CEO of NYC Well being + Hospitals.
Katz additionally mentioned Thursday this new mannequin will assist enhance FDNY response occasions, which have steadily grown longer over the previous a number of years.
