Windsor Regional Hospital

Windsor nurse–police partnership builds trust, bridges gaps in community

Laurie Freeman is pictured with local hospital and WESpark partners.Dr. Laurie Freeman (centre) is shown receiving support from WESpark for the NPT study, joined by Susan Fox, Johnathan Foster, Dora Cavallo, and Dominika Boron. (SUBMITTED BY LAURIE FREEMAN/University of Windsor)

By Sara Meikle

The idea began in the emergency department, where police officers and registered nurses (RN) wondered: what if they could help people before they reached the hospital?

That question sparked Windsor’s Nurse–Police Team (NPT) program, which pairs officers from the Windsor Police Service with RNs from Windsor Regional Hospital to respond to calls in the city’s downtown core.