Every day, Tulsa firefighters respond to calls from people in crisis. But for some of those people, the emergency is just a symptom of a much bigger problem, and one TFD unit has spent nearly a decade working to solve it.
The Tulsa Fire Department’s CARES unit — Community Assistance, Referrals and Education Services — has been quietly transforming lives in Tulsa since 2016. This week, that work earned the team the George Hamilton Special Award from the Tulsa Rotary Club.
The recognition comes on the heels of striking results. In the last year alone, the CARES team reduced 911 calls by 74 percent and cut emergency room visits in half among the people they serve.
They’ve done it by doing something simple that wasn’t happening before: following up. When firefighters respond to an emergency and identify a deeper need, they flag it. The CARES team takes it from there, meeting people where they are and connecting them to the resources they actually need.
The program also helps improve firefighter safety by reducing the volume of non-emergency calls crews are sent to respond to.
