BEVERLY — The Beverly Police Department is forming a new partnership with a local medical practice in an attempt to help the city’s most vulnerable people.
Middleton Family Medicine has agreed to assist police in certain cases when they respond to calls involving people who are homeless or have mental health or substance use issues.
Beverly Police Officer Erik Abrahamson said the idea of partnering with a medical practice came about after years of police responding to such calls and seeing people unable to access the proper care.
“When you’re dealing with the homeless, their primary concern is what they’re going to eat, where they’re going to sleep,” Abrahamson said. “Their concerns are, ‘How am I going to get through the day?,’ not, ‘How am I going to schedule a doctor’s appointment?’”
