Alternative Transportation

Transportation is provided for non-violent, involuntary, adult behavioral health patients throughout the state needing transportation from EDs to behavioral health facilities. The program provides safe, secure, and restraint-free transport in an unmarked vehicle, avoiding the stigma and trauma of being placed in the back of a police vehicle in handcuffs, while assisting overburdened law enforcement agencies, by reducing the number of calls to provide often time-consuming patient transports. Drivers wear civilian clothes, and they are trained in de-escalation techniques.  

The Department of Mental Health (DMH)’s alternative transport program began based on a request and funding provided by SC General Assembly in 2022. SCDMH contracted with Allied Universal Security Systems (AUS) to provide transport services. All hospitals are able to utilize the transportation services at no charge to the patient or to the hospital.  

The program expanded in summer 2024 with additional state funding, and the creation of four regional hubs – Foothills, Midlands, Pee Dee, and Low Country – to facilitate timely responses statewide. Managed from a centralized dispatch center with a single statewide toll-free number (833) 861-0871 – with services provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Drivers are dispatched from a centralized office established within their assigned hub, which collectively reduces response (pick-up and drop-off) times. 

For more specifics about alternative transportation, view this recent SCDMH PPT or contact Tracy Miley, SCDMH Program Manager (tracy.miley@scdmh.org).