Protecting the Protectors: How San Diego’s MCRT Keeps Responders Safe with Vestige’s PERSA safety solution
Simple, affordable wearable panic button solution delivers reliable emergency response technology
“The job is inherently dangerous, so it was important to us to put as many of these tools like PERSA in place to keep our people safe,” said Bre Lane, Program Administrator, Telecare, San Diego County Behavioral Health Mobile Crisis Response Team.
“We are able to engage in this very unsafe work in a safe way.”
The work of San Diego’s Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) is courageous, compassionate and inherently dangerous.
Responders often enter volatile, unpredictable situations to support individuals in the throes of a mental health crisis.
But the risks of the job were adversely impacting staff morale, leaving the first responders feeling isolated and frightened when they found themselves in dangerous circumstances with law enforcement and support staff unable to immediately intervene.
Employee burnout and attrition followed.
The organization turned to Vestige and its panic button solution, PERSA, to connect the staff in the field with simple technology connecting them to immediate help.
Vestige PERSA provides the real-time lifeline that helps protect teams on the front lines of mental health intervention where empathy meets unpredictability, and where safety can’t wait.
“We train our teams with a lot of layers of safety and security so we’re able to do this job in a safe way, but sometimes we still get in difficult situations where you need this sort of panic button technology,” said Bre Lane, Program Administrator, Telecare, San Diego County Behavioral Health Mobile Crisis Response Team.
“The PERSA device is part of their uniform to ensure they’re always ready to respond to these sorts of events. Our team needs the tools to keep them safe no matter where they go to support our community.”
Vestige's Persa Device For Remote Employee Safety
Wearable Panic Button
Employees in duress can send silent alarms with a thumb-sized activation button. With a swift movement, they can alert authorities and forward accurate location notifications and precise location details.
Maximum Visibility
Our PERSA technology offers an enterprise-grade GPS (Global Positioning System) tracker with real-time data. This feature finds a person’s exact location.
Wearability
The Vestige pocket-sized device comes with a lanyard. This allows users to wear them around necks, belts, or bags.
Durability
With PERSA on your side, you won’t have to worry about daily charging or the elements. These gadgets are compact, water-resistant tools that can last up to two weeks on a full charge.
Custom Notifications
We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. Let us know which geofence alert notifications you want, and our team can make it happen.
Less Police, More Empathy: A Fresh Take on Community Support
Lane has a serious responsibility in leading San Diego’s Behavioral Health Mobile Crisis Response Team.
The team members are part of a vital bridge between citizens at risk from mental, psychological, and emotional challenges in times of crisis and law enforcement.
Operating 24/7 with a staff of approximately 130 clinicians, case managers, and peer support specialists, the team has answered over 17,000 calls since its inception in 2021.
Their mission: provide compassionate, non-law enforcement mental health support to the community. Their services include crisis triage, screening, assessment, in-person crisis intervention and stabilization, and linkage to ongoing support. They also respond to substance abuse calls.
In one such case, a team found themselves confronting a woman suffering from a volatile episode. Despite their training in de-escalation and empathy, the situation turned violent.
With no time to pull out a phone or call for help, one responder silently activated their Vestige PERSA device, which dispatched an SOS signal, complete with GPS coordinates, to their supervisor and 911 dispatchers.
The team safely retreated while backup was mobilized, ensuring the safety and others in the area.
Lane relies on the PERSA panic button to provide “the ability to do unsafe work in a safe way.”
The San Diego unit is part of a growing trend across the United States of urban governments leveraging unconventional response teams to cope with a persistent challenge that has been managed by law enforcement.
MCRTs are mandated for call counties by the state of California.
In addition to decreasing the likelihood of volatile confrontations between a citizen suffering a mental health crisis and law enforcement, the programs share common goals, including:
- Decreasing burdens on police
- Treating people with mental health crises more compassionately
- Reducing the likelihood of violence or re-traumatization, especially in communities historically over-policed
- Diverting individuals from jail into care systems, avoiding criminal records and unnecessary use of the justice system.
- Reducing the strain and cost on the judicial system
For these reasons, municipalities like Denver, Eugene, Oregon, and New York City have stood up organizations similar to San Diego’s crisis response team.
But the job remains rife with risks long familiar to law enforcement. Frontline crisis response often means walking into volatile, unpredictable environments.
With mental health crises escalating nationwide, Lane faced a critical leadership question:
“When you’re working with someone on the worst day of their life, when they’re contemplating hurting themselves or someone else, there are real risks” she said.
Dozens of organizations across North America rely on the PERSA device today for the same reasons Lane turned to Vestige, including:
- Reliability
- Affordability
- Simplicity
- High Touch Customer Service
Lane explains that the Vestige system is considered an essential tool for every team.
“It’s a part of our uniform and has to work every time,” Lane explained
“Our teams take serious risks to serve the community, and we’re committed to building the support systems to keep them safe on every call.”
Employees are never alone with PERSA
Designed to be accessible any time you need it, PERSA is a wearable safety device and tracker complete with our software platform to ensure all remote or lone workers are safe 24/7.
- Employee clock-in and clock-out times
- Any off-site location their mobile employees may visit
- Mobile employees are on the best route to get to their site locations
The Challenge: Safety Without Shields
MCRT teams do not carry weapons or wear bulletproof vests.
They find themselves responding to familiar challenges across San Diego County, including:
- People contemplating suicide
- Citizens suffering severe mood dysregulation
- People experience psychotic episodes that include hearing voices or seeing things
- Homeless people who wandered away from homes far from Southern California
Their greatest tools are empathy, de-escalation skills, and trust – established in mere moments when they first arrive.
And they are far from alone.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that social service workers frequently face verbal threats, physical assaults, and high-risk client encounters.
During a recent two-year period, more than 23,000 workplace assaults occurred — 75% of them in healthcare and social services. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics further highlights the issue, showing these two industries as among the most affected by non-fatal workplace violence.
“We train in all the different ways to de-escalate and promote safety, but it’s impossible to take the risk to zero,” Lane said.
Cell phones were imperfect as it’s difficult to call for help when sprinting from a dangerous threat. Sometimes subtly can be part of the de-escalation process, knowing a 911 call can trigger a person, Lane explained.
Additionally, in remote areas of San Diego where service is spotty, a cell phone may prove insufficient. Staff needed something more resilient, reliable in all geographies and discreet.
The popularity of panic buttons has provided non-emergency, healthcare and other social service workers with an extra layer of security that can be deployed simply and poised to respond in virtually any environment or geography.
Why Vestige PERSA panic button?
After testing several different panic button safety technologies — including some with disappointing results — Lane’s team selected Vestige’s PERSA device.
“We needed something that worked when nothing else did,” Lane said. “It had to function without cell service. It had to be silent, fast, and reliable. PERSA checked every box.”
With an average response time of 28 seconds, it provides a vital lifeline in emergencies.
More importantly, the PERSA team at Vestige worked closely with Lane to customize the system for MCRT’s exact needs. Notifications were configured to alert leadership, dispatch, and 911 in a specific sequence. Pinpoint accurate GPS data could locate staff in real time.
“It was like putting a virtual life ring around every responder,” Lane said.
Implementation: From Uncertainty to Confidence
MCRT staff are required to wear the PERSA device on every shift, usually clipped to their fanny packs for easy access. With a simple four-second press, the unit vibrates to confirm receipt, and responders are alerted.
Vestige makes it easy to customize alerting in the software, allowing organizations to make immediate calls to 911 or simply email and text their colleagues.
“We’ve engineered a system that is highly customizable as we recognize that every organization will have unique protocols and systems,” said Twain McDougal, President, Vestige.
“Our implementation team works with each customer during deployment to ensure the system is configured appropriately and is tested thoroughly in real world conditions.”
Regular drills reinforce device use.
Lane’s team tests units monthly, including unannounced drills to verify response speed and accuracy. In one real-world test, they intentionally triggered an alert in a remote area. PERSA accurately transmitted the GPS location despite minimal cell service—a performance that no other solution they tested could match.
“From our AI-powered vehicle cameras trusted by hundreds of commercial vehicle operators to the PERSA solution deployed to serve social service and security personnel across North America, we’re proud to be among the finest providers of safety-focused technology,” McDougal said.
“We know that emergencies can happen anywhere at any time, and not having cellular service is no excuse for not having access to immediate help. Lane and her team of mobile crisis first responders is one of many social service and non-emergency first responders who rely on the PERSA solution to keep them safe in difficult circumstances.”
Outcomes: Safety, Morale, and Organizational Trust
The impact of PERSA goes beyond technical performance. It has transformed staff morale and retention.
Since adding PERSA, the first responders said they feel safer.
“Staff told us they feel seen and protected,” Lane said. “It’s not just about technology—it’s about leadership showing they care.”
The device’s usage extends beyond physical threats. If a client has a medical emergency in a remote area, responders can press the button to summon help. Even with minimal cell coverage, Vestige’s platform ensures backup arrives swiftly.
Vestige also offers reporting tools and after-action logs, helping MCRT identify usage trends, troubleshoot gaps, and satisfy emergency preparedness compliance — all while fostering accountability and continuous improvement.
Red Alert
An employee can send distress signals to request immediate assistance for a 911 call.
Yellow Alert
Users can report concerning situations to their team through text or email.
Regular check-in (Green code)
The system requires regular check-ins from professionals on duty.
A Broader Movement: Setting a National Standard
Lane’s leadership has gone unnoticed.
Other counties—and even international organizations like those in the Netherlands—have reached out to learn from San Diego’s model. Lane has repeatedly recommended Vestige as the only device that has consistently met its exacting standards.
In webinars and public forums, Lane has become a vocal advocate for worker safety.
“This is not a luxury. It is a necessity,” she said. “No one should fear for their life doing this work.”
Lessons for Leaders: Technology Alone Isn’t Enough
Lane’s success with PERSA is not just a case study in safety tech—it is a leadership blueprint. Here are key takeaways for other agencies:
- Listen to your teams: Exit interviews reveal safety concerns. Lane responded with action.
- Customize solutions: Off-the-shelf was not enough. Vestige tailored PERSA to MCRT’s protocols.
- Train for worst-case scenarios: Ongoing drills ensure muscle memory in emergencies
- Invest in morale: A simple device helped transform organizational trust and staff retention.
Conclusion: Human-Centered Tech for Human-Centered Work
In the emotionally demanding field of crisis intervention, staff must be empowered to care for others while knowing they are caring for themselves. PERSA gives the MCRT team quiet confidence—a safety net woven from trust, technology, and training.
For Lane, it’s about leading with compassion and backing it with action.
“As a leader,” she says, “your first job is to protect your people. With PERSA, we are doing just that.”
Additional Background on Worker Safety Challenges
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) further underscores the severity of this issue. In 2018, healthcare workers accounted for 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses due to violence.
Moreover, in 2021–2022, there were 57,610 nonfatal cases of workplace violence requiring days away from work, job restriction, or transfer, with 73% occurring in the healthcare and social assistance industry.(Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Women are disproportionately affected, representing 72 % of all nonfatal workplace violence cases during this period. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) notes that many incidents go unreported, with some surveys indicating underreporting rates as high as 85 %(NASW)
To address this growing concern, the bipartisan Protecting Social Workers, and Health Professionals from Workplace Violence Act (S. 4412/H.R. 8492) was introduced.
This legislation aims to establish a grant program within the Department of Health and Human Services to fund the implementation of workplace safety measures, including security equipment, facility improvements, safety training programs, and support services for professionals who have been victims of violence.(NASW)
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