By Lillie Davidson
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas 鈥� Homeless outreach. Infant mortality reduction. CPR, Narcan and drowning reduction training. Connecting people with resources to recover from addiction or connecting them to more permanent health care.
It might be easier to list the things the team does not do.
The HOPE team started with the Fort Worth Police Department as an effort to reduce a strain on emergency services caused by non-emergency calls from the homeless community.
According to Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis, a fire station near the Lancaster corridor was taking almost 5,000 trips a year, with nearly 1,000 coming from a mile-long stretch of Lancaster Avenue known to have a high homeless population.
The fire department put its own HOPE team together to try and cut down on unnecessary ambulance and fire response to the area, freeing up resources for more urgent calls.
The team now covers pretty much everything that doesn鈥檛 call for a fire engine or an ambulance.
And there, at the helm of it all, is Fort Worth firefighter Lt. Sam Greif Jr. The 38-year-old father of three daughters has been with the Fort Worth Fire Department for almost 17 years.
Every day of those 17 years has been different, Grief said.
鈥淧art of being a firefighter is just getting to go out and help people on a daily basis,鈥� Grief said last month during a visit to the Bob Bolen Public Safety Center. 鈥淚t鈥檚 never the same thing. You show up to work and you don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 around the corner.鈥�
Greif has been working with the HOPE team since September 2019. He said he got involved after taking an idea to help homeless people to Davis.
Some days, the job sees Greif setting up donated cribs for parents whose babies don鈥檛 have a safe sleeping arrangement. Other days, it has him devising ways to get homeless people out of the heat, or visiting homeless camps to do blood sugar checks and insulin injections.
But, down to his genes, Greif will always be a firefighter.
His father, Sam Greif, was a Fort Worth firefighter for 30 years and served as the Plano fire chief for six. His mother was a volunteer firefighter in Crowley.
Greif said his son entered the fire service on his own, switching aspirations from being a police officer to enrolling in the fire program at a community college.
Their relationship is special, Greif鈥檚 father said, because they鈥檙e not just father and son, they鈥檙e brother firefighters, too.
鈥淚f you鈥檝e met Sam Junior in person you know he鈥檚 a big man of stature, and I would say that probably his heart is as big as his chest,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e needed God to give him a chest that big to hold that heart because he just has a way with people.鈥�
Greif鈥檚 heart is evident: his immediate reflex is to give credit to everyone else on the HOPE team.
鈥淭his is a partnership and a team effort. Without them, this would not be possible,鈥� Grief said.
Officials with the agree.
鈥淓stablishing the HOPE team has allowed us to collaborate with our first responders and improve care for the unsheltered and unhoused residents in Fort Worth.,鈥� said Joel Hunt , a JPS physician assistant and the director of Acclaim Street Medicine. 鈥淲e are grateful for our community partners and the dedicated members of the HOPE team who have been responsive and cooperative in helping to deliver high-quality patient care.鈥�
Greif said there are dozens of stories from people the HOPE team has helped.
One that sticks with him the most, he said, is from early on in his work with the HOPE team. The team responded to a call from a woman who was addicted to heroin. When they arrived, she still had a syringe in her arm.
鈥淪he cried and said 鈥業 really just want to be done with this life,鈥欌�� Greif recalled.
The team helped the woman get into a rehab program and reconnect with her family in Oklahoma. To this day, Greif said he believes she is still doing well.
Greif said there have been a few instances in which he鈥檚 run into people he helped while they were living on the streets and found out that they now have a house or job, or have overcome their addiction.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been very blessed in the work that we get to do,鈥� Greif said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got a team that, rain, shine, sleet, they鈥檙e out there鈥� I don鈥檛 have to beg them to go to work.鈥�
While Greif only has two people formally assigned to his team, he can reach out to any of the city鈥檚 45 fire stations and ask for help.
Davis said he鈥檚 looking forward to seeing what the team can accomplish once the Fort Worth Fire Department completes its absorption of MedStar, the city鈥檚 EMS and ambulance service.
The merger, approved in May, will see MedStar employees become members of the fire department.
The fire department is looking to expand the capabilities of the HOPE team once MedStar becomes part of the fire department, Davis said.
As for Greif? He鈥檒l be where he鈥檚 always been.
鈥淗e cares about people, and he鈥檚 always been that kid that took up for the underdog and would try to represent those that couldn鈥檛 represent themselves,鈥� his father said.
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