Nena Ruiz and Emily Connor have been teammates for nearly a year.

Through ACCORD, the Albany County Crisis Officials Responding and Diverting program, the social workers from the County’s Mobile Crisis Team and paramedic supervisor from the Sheriff’s Office are one of two response teams trained to handle situations involving mental health and nonviolent emergencies.

"We take information that we both know from our side and we kind of cater it and make sure we have whatever response a patient truly needs,” Ruiz said.

In their first six months, the crisis response teams responded to 240 calls with their efforts focused on Berne, Knox and Rensselaerville.

"We've done it and we've seen it work now,” Ruiz said. “Trying to figure out how we existed before the ACCORD program is almost like ... we shouldn't have done things the way that we did but now that we know better, we can do better. The model is out there, so it's unavoidable. You have to kind of adapt as the community needs change, and that's what the ACCORD program has been doing."

The state recently committed to investing $350,000 to expand the service.

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy discussed the programs accomplishments at his State of the County address in March.

"This program defuses and deescalates situations and pairs the right people together while preserving public safety resources that allow officers to be available to respond to police matters,” McCoy said. “As a result of the success of this pilot program, we are now expanding it to other communities."

The county enlisted researches from the University at Albany to evaluate ACCORD.

"We're looking at from day one how that program is changing the results of what happens when these 911 calls come in,” Associate Dean for Research & Professor School of Social Welfare Carmen Morano said.

They're looking at all data related to the process and the outcome.

"Upwards of 25-35 percent, if not more, of calls coming in to the 911 dispatch system are involving individuals with mental health and substance abuse problems,” Morano said.

They understand the broader impact the model could have.

"This is really not about defunding police or anything like that, it's really resource re-allocation while providing the necessary service to the community,” said Tomoko Udo, associate professor with UAlbany's School of Public Health. 

Ruiz and Connor have seen firsthand the good working together can do. They hope to serve as an example to other communities.

"I think each skill set the teams bring is really, really valuable,” Connor said. “With all the fields involved, I think it's crucial and kind of unavoidable if you want to be able to provide the best level of care for folks in your community."