Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board
Workforce Development & Infrastructure Working Group Meeting
July 8, 2024
Virtual Meeting Held Via Zoom
Meeting Minutes
Workforce Development and Infrastructure Workgroup Members
Blanca Campos, Community Behavioral Healthcare Association (Chair)
Bessie Alcantara, Alternatives, Inc.
Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, Wolf Pack; Live4Lali
Angel Cruz, Peoria County Sheriff's Office
Dr. Trenton Fedrick, Habilitative Systems, Inc.
Kristin Hamblock, Rosecrance
Angie Hampton, Egyptian Health Department
John Horsely, Kenneth Young Center
Jen Nagel-Fischer, The Porchlight Collective, SAP
Lora Passetti, Chestnut Health Systems
Theressa Perdieu, CEAD Council (DBA Hour House)
Michelle Saddler, Kittleman and Associates
Chris Schaffner, JOLT Harm Reduction
Mila Tsagalis, DuPage County Health Department
Tom Wright, MD, Rosecrance
Welcome and Roll Call
Blanco Campos, Chair, welcomed the group and started the meeting. Sue Pickett, PhD of Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP), facilitator, took roll call. All members were present except for Bessie Alcantara, Angel Cruz, Kristin Hamblock, Theressa Perdieu, Michelle Saddler, and Tom Wright. Quorum was established. Dr. Pickett reported that Michelle Sadler is resigning from the working group.
Review and Approval of Working Group Meeting Minutes from May 13, 2024
Ms. Campos called for a motion to approve the May 13, 2024 meeting minutes. Lora Passetti made a motion to approve the minutes. Jen Nagel-Fischer seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of approving the minutes. The motion passed.
Priority Recommendations for the IORAB
* The group discussed their work on a recommendation to use settlement funds to support the recruitment and education of individuals to join the behavioral health workforce. Ms. Campos will email a document outlining other states' activities in this area to the working group for review. Other states, such as Delaware, have implemented scholarships, fellowships, and loan repayment for people working in behavioral health.
* Ms. Campos shared that a recommendation to expand telehealth services that was developed by the IORAB Access & Equity Working Group should be finalized at that group's July 9th meeting. The IORAB will review and vote on this recommendation at their July 18th meeting.
* Jim Wilkerson, interim Statewide Opioid Services Administrator (SOSA), stated that there were other recommendations being developed that are not yet ready to be presented to the IORAB. One of these recommendations, which was developed by the IORAB Medical & Research Working Group, is to improve support for youth and families related to opioid use. State leadership is reviewing this recommendation to ensure that the suggested services do not overlap with programs that will be funded through federal State Opioid Response (SOR) dollars.
* The working group reviewed the telehealth recommendation. A working group member suggested that "harm reduction" be added to the sentence that describes the types of services to be supported. Specifically, "prevention, treatment, and recovery support services" was revised to be "prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services." Dr. Pickett will share this suggested addition to the Access & Equity working group at their July 9 meeting.
* Dr. Fedrick made a motion for the Workforce Development & Infrastructure working group to endorse the telehealth recommendation. John Horsley seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of endorsing the recommendation. The motion to endorse the recommendation passed.
* The working group discussed their draft recommendation to use settlement funds to support the education and recruitment of high school students, college undergraduates, and graduate students to join the behavioral health workforce. A working group member mentioned that Illinois high schools are moving towards preparing students for careers in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) rather than careers in healthcare. The schools that are moving towards preparing students to work in healthcare often focus on hospital-based care. Many people incorrectly think that only paraprofessionals work in SUD treatment.
* Community colleges offer programs that allow students to become certified nursing assistants (CNAs); it may be beneficial to develop a similar process for students to be certified to work in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.
* The working group revised the description of people who would be targeted by fundedoutreach and education to include high school students, undergraduate students including students at community colleges, and graduate students within healthcare, human services and public health professional programs.
* The working group discussed that they would like to recruit family members and allies of people with lived experience (PLE) and people who use drugs (PWUD). Resources related to career development in behavioral health should be available to everyone, but PLE and PWUD should be prioritized because they experience barriers to employment, including within behavioral health, because of the criminalization of substance use. It is essential to include education about opportunities to work in harm reduction services in the recommendation. Recommendations to support career development in behavioral health should align with systems where PLE and PWUD can work as service providers. Having employment and access to a competitive wage is a stabilizing factor.
* The working group discussed how the outreach and education recommendation could be translated into a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO). The funding would not have to go through an agency that provides services but could go directly to colleges or universities.
* The working group discussed the need for funding to pay for additional education for people working within SUD treatment or behavioral health. Multiple strategies should be used to address this need including stipends, scholarships, and loan repayment. Ms. Camposdiscussed recent loan repayment legislation that is specific to people working at communitybased organizations.
* The working group discussed that SUD is a spectrum including those in recovery. There are potentially harmful implications of having a diagnosis of SUD; the diagnosis is maintained in medical records and doctors can be hesitant to prescribe medication to people with a history of SUD.
* A working group member discussed how their recommendation related to education and recruitment of individuals to work within behavioral health should supplement rather than supplant existing funding opportunities. IDHS/Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (SUPR) will compare recommendations made with other funded programs to avoid overlap.
* Dr. Pickett will send out the draft of the recommendation to working group members to provide feedback. Dr. Pickett will integrate this feedback and send a revised document to Ms. Campos. A revised draft of the recommendation will be sent to the working group prior to the September meeting.
Public Participation
No members of the public attended the meeting.
Adjourn
Ms. Campos thanked participants and adjourned the meeting. The next meeting of the IORAB Workforce Development & Infrastructure working group will be on September 9, 2024, from 11 AM - 12 PM.
