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Firefighter-paramedics Joel Davis and Justin Verga conduct homeless outreach in Long Beach. Photos by Michalea Kwoka-Coleman.<\/em><\/p>\n For Joel Davis and Justin Verga, being a part of the Long Beach community means making sure the basic needs of the most vulnerable citizens are met \u2013 that\u2019s just what a community is supposed to do.<\/p>\n Together, the two firefighter-paramedics with the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) make up the Homeless Education And Response Team (HEART).<\/p>\n The idea for the program originated two years ago as a way for the fire department to increase its response to people experiencing homelessness, according to LBFD Deputy Chief of Operations James Rexwinkel.<\/p>\n {loadposition adfloat}<\/p>\n Davis said the program is \u201cvery new and very unique to Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n With funding from Proposition H, which voters approved in May 2007, LBFD was allotted a one-time amount of $250,000 to form the team.<\/p>\n Davis and Verga spend their day driving around different areas of Long Beach, listening and waiting for a dispatch call that sounds like it could be about someone who is experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n If they are near the call\u2019s location, they respond.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody driving down the road calls 9-1-1 because they see somebody lying down on the corner of Lakewood and Spring\u2026 more than likely, that\u2019s somebody experiencing homelessness,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n By them responding to the call instead of a fire engine company, resources can be better distributed, which impacts the system in a positive manner, Davis added.<\/p>\n THE MOBILE OFFICE<\/strong><\/p>\n As Davis and Verga spend their 10-hour work days driving around Long Beach, their SUV doubles as their office, which they say helps them better serve the homeless population.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s by design too,\u201d Davis added. \u201cIf we\u2019re sitting at an office, at headquarters for example or having to go to a fire station to do our reports and stuff like typical units, we\u2019re not on the street, and if we\u2019re not on the street then we\u2019re not able to jump on some of those calls.\u201d<\/p>\n Their ability to respond to calls involving people who may be experiencing homelessness helps free up resources for other medical emergencies.<\/p>\n Davis said this is one of the biggest successes of the program so far.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s showing a very positive impact on reduction on the call volume for some of the resources in town, keeping them available for the structure fires, the heart attacks and things like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Verga added that not taking homeless people to the ER who don\u2019t have medical emergencies is freeing up beds for those who actually need them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has a lot of trickle down effect in the entire system that\u2019s not exactly easy to quantify, but it\u2019s definitely still there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n File photo by Asia Morris.<\/em><\/p>\n MULTI-SERVICE CENTER<\/strong><\/p>\n When HEART does respond to a call, they assess the individual\u2019s needs in order to take the right course of action. If the person doesn\u2019t need to be taken to a hospital, the team will start providing outreach and offer a ride to the Multi-Service Center in West Long Beach.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll kind of assess what their needs are at that point,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWhether they\u2019re looking for housing, if they have mental illness, basic hygiene needs, we try to identify some of the things they need help with and then connect them with the right resources.\u201d<\/p>\n There, homeless people can meet with caseworkers, receive non-emergency medical treatment, shower and take a shuttle to the winter shelter in North Long Beach, which is open until April 1 but could possibly become a permanent shelter location.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever their case may be, there\u2019s someone there who can help them,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIf they\u2019re a veteran, there\u2019s somebody there who only deals with veterans; if they\u2019re a family, there\u2019s somebody there who only deals with families; if it\u2019s a female, there\u2019s somebody there who only deals with females. So there\u2019s really a good network of services that they provide.\u201d<\/p>\n PROACTIVE OUTREACH<\/strong><\/p>\n While HEART is always on the lookout to respond to emergencies, they spend a majority of their time doing proactive outreach within the community.<\/p>\n \u201cBasically, we\u2019ll go out, we\u2019ll start conversations with folks, trying to get to know them, to build trust with them,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe don\u2019t wait for someone to call 9-1-1 for them.\u201d<\/p>\n The two men drive up and down the bike path along the L.A. River at least once a day, conversing with the people they know and introducing themselves to the newcomers.<\/p>\n Not every person they approach wants services, in fact most people refuse. Davis said that some people are content with the way they live. However, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll always be content.<\/p>\n For most homeless people, the team said they need to hit rock bottom before they\u2019ll come and seek services.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get a \u2018yes\u2019 you got to act on it right then and there, because the longer you wait, the more likelihood they\u2019re gonna get cold feet and back out and fall back in the cracks,\u201d Verga said. The most important aspect of their outreach is to respect the reality of the person with whom they\u2019re engaging.<\/p>\n For homeless people who might be suffering from a mental illness such as schizophrenia, it\u2019s important to approach them with respect and to be mindful of your body language.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second you start tearing that down is the second you\u2019ve lost any type of relationship with that person,\u201d Verga said. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019re dealing with someone who\u2019s got some kind of mental illness, whatever it may be. You\u2019ve got to learn how to talk to people.\u201d<\/p>\n Both men believe it\u2019s not just their duty as firefighters or as part of HEART to help the homeless population, but simply their duty as Long Beach residents.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it\u2019s in your backyard, it\u2019s your obligation to help the problem, to assist in making sure the entire community is taken care of, that\u2019s what a community does,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWhat people have to understand is that from every man and woman on the streets to every man and woman who are living well, they\u2019re all still [part of] the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Joel Davis and Justin Verga, being a part of the Long Beach community means making sure the basic needs of the most vulnerable citizens are met \u2013 that\u2019s just what a community is supposed to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":66912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[794],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-heart","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Heart](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Heart_inside.jpg\")
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\u201cBeing the mobile unit, it knocks a good minute or two off the response time for the other units responding, just us being mobile in nature,\u201d Verga said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DSC_1725_900x596.jpg\")
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\u201cWhen we see someone new we don\u2019t recognize, we\u2019ll just stop, start chatting them up a little bit, find out what their story is,\u201d Verga said. \u201cJust start making that contact, start building that relationship, just let them know there\u2019s someone that\u2019s willing to help them if they want it, and when they\u2019re ready, and that\u2019s what a lot of it comes down to, when they\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"heart](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/heart_suv.jpg\")
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