CESSA Statewide Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes 05/13/2024

Approved by Committee Members 09/09/2024

Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA) Statewide Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes - Monday, May 13, 2024 - 01:00 pm-4:00 pm via WebEx

Memorial Hospital Learning Center, Springfield, Illinois and via WebX (virtual)

Call to Order/Roll Call

Lee Ann Reinert called the meeting to order at 1:02 PM

Approval of Minutes from April 8, 2024

  • Cindy Barbera-Brelle moved, Emily Miller seconded. Noted that Quorum was present.
  • Members Present: Lee Ann Reinert (for Dave Albert) (Present and Approved), Cindy Barbera-Brelle (Present and Approved), Curtis Harris (Present and Approved), Justin Houcek (Present and Approved), Pooja Nagpal (Present and Approved), Shelley Dallas (Present and Approved), Richard Manthy (Present and Approved), Jim Kaitschuk (Present and Approved), Blanca Campos (Present and Approved), Emily Miller (Present and Approved), Rachael Ahart (Present and Approved), Drew Hansen (Present and Approved), Jessica Gimeno (for Candace Coleman) (Present and Approved)
  • Members Not Present: Bobby Van Bebber
  • The minutes were approved.

Agenda

The Agenda for the day was reviewed by Lee Ann Reinert.

State and UIC Crisis Hub Updates

State Updates: Lee Ann Reinert

  • Legislative Progress: CESSA revisions moved through committee hearings two week ago; It is expected that they will continue to move forward. The revisions include:
    • Appointment of a [RAC]chair that is not the Medical Director
    • CESSA Extension until July 1, 2025
    • Hyper local management of RACS where there is permission to meet at sub-regional level due to the need for discussion at the community level as opposed to the regional level.
  • Additional language may be worked on during the Veto Session. These revisions are the issues that will most likely move forward during the summer and get signed into law.

The Behavioral Health Crisis Hub, UIC Updates: Dr. Lorrie Rickman Jones

  • Communication Plan - The list of Mental Health initiatives and glossary of terms are posted on the website.
  • Planning for the Behavioral Health Crisis Continuum Forum, June 11th, that will be held at UIC Forum in Chicago is on track. Register by May 17, 2024.
  • Dr. Jones gave an overview of the Forum Agenda topics and speakers

The Behavioral Health Crisis Hub Technical Subcommittee Updates

Protocol and Standards: Cindy Barbera-Brelle

  • Update on Work with Protocol Vendors
    • Priority Dispatch: Member of the Protocols and Standards workgroup (Dr. Jones, Cindy Barbera-Brelle and Dr. Smith) and four of the PSAPs who use Priority Dispatch met with Priority Dispatch representatives in Bloomington May 1st to determine the fit of the Interim Risk Level Matrix with Priority Dispatch EMD, Police and Fire protocols.
    • PowerPhone: Preparing to initiate the pre-test focusing on new questions added to the protocols; Pre-test will focus on testing new questions, determining if any problems, and making adjustments as necessary. The step after that is Pilot implementation in RACs. Once completed will move to broader implementation with other PowerPhone users across the state.
    • APCO: Kickoff meeting with be held in a week; Protocols similar to PowerPhone, so the process for reviewing and making recommendations re: protocols and protocol questions are envisioned to be similar.
    • Independents: There are six or seven 7 911 Centers using hospital protocols; Will work with them on an individual basis.
  • Dr. Jones provided an overview of the pre-test and pilot test launch process
    • Blanca Campos: How many sites will participate in the Pilots Sites?
  • Response: 2 pilots with each vendor in each region in which PSAPs use PowerPhone Total Response
    • Question: Will Pilot sites be initiated July 1?
  • Response: No, several reasons including new 988 statewide vendor, and training that needs to happen, Other complicating factors will be discussed by Lee Ann Reinert

Training and Education Subcommittee Report: Dr. Terry Solomon and Cindy Barbera-Brelle

  • Dr. Solomon: Sent training plan to RACS to review. 115 comments received.; Recommendations to be reviewed; FAQs will be created and submitted to DMH for feedback. Core training will be identified.
  • Cindy Barbera-Brelle: 911 State Administrator Office is charged with standing up a Telecommunicator supervisor program. This will be considered in the curriculum provided. Illinois State Police learning management system which is online will be used for 911 telecommunicator training.

Data and Technology Committee: Pete Eckart and Dr. Mary Smith

  • Pete Eckart: Developing report that describes all of the subcommittee's deliberations including research on best practices, what data is currently being collected in the state, what an ideal system looks like for Illinois and a phased plan to get there. This will be discussed/reviewed at the next technical committee meeting that will be held May 29th .
  • Dr. Smith: Data committee has been working on the CESSA evaluation plan for more than last year. Committee focused on CESSA goals, defining research questions, data elements, and indicators. This work will be used as a basis for evaluating the Pre-tests and Pilots.
  • Blanca Campos: Will RACs provide feedback on this initiative as well?
    • Response: Pete Eckart: Yes, the subcommittee develops recommendations for review by the SAC and then to the RACs for review and comments.
  • Curtis Harris: How are you going to implement the protocols next year?
    • Response: The Technology and Data recommended system depends on the updates to the protocols as a basis for identifying data needs and then data will flow back to the system.

RAC/SAC Discussion of Current Implementation Status and Issues (Part 1): Brenda Hampton

Overview of work undertaken by the RACs to move forward CESSA legislation. RACs are at varying level of movement. Dennis Duke, Dr. Sharron Ward and Stacey Kemp were asked to provide an overview of the Summits recently held in their regions. Each described the issues discussed during their summits.

  • Dennis Duke- President of Robert Young Mental Health Center - Region 2
    • Fortunate to have a great law enforcement partner: Chief Darren Gault which has helped facilitate process and bring community together; Well attended by all sectors (e.g., police, fire departments, hospitals and EMS)
    • Gave a presentation on the CESSA statute to level set; Focus only on Level 1 of the Interim Risk Level Matrix
    • Discussed the upcoming Pilot program. Goal is to focus on improving local response to mental health in the quad city region; Overall, attendees were optimistic about the process of taking small steps at a time in terms of implementation
  • Dr. Sharronne Ward - Southland Community, President/CEO of Grand Prairie Services - Region 7
    • Great opportunity to address crisis services in the community with focus on good quality services.
    • Dr. Dave - EMS Director - Silver Cross Hospital brings wealth of knowledge to the RAC.
    • Focus is on providing good quality services so that regardless of where an individual experiencing a crisis is, there would be a response. Working hard with all partners to meet this goal.
    • Region 7 community group initially started in response to issues or challenges occurring in the community.
    • In particular one challenges of Police Officers/First Responders was in responding to crises in relation to community housing. Training was provided to address the issue and in turn first responders interest in focusing on crisis response within the community has increased. Relationship with secondary responders has also increased.
  • Stacie Kemp - President/CEO of Sinnissippi Centers - Region 1
    • Summit in DeKalb in April; Approx 70 people attended; Range of participants representing wide variety of stakeholders. Provided a high-level overview of CESSA goals; 911 Call Center workflow and presentation was provided. Presentations from Dekalb and Winnebago County spoke about co-response options in those counties.
    • Shelley Dallas gave an overview of the work of the Protocol and Standards Sub-committee; Complexity of communities (types of services available, not available) was discussed; Focus on development of relationships, understanding of how crisis services work in different communities. Plan to get back together when the pilots kick off.

Breakout Groups: Brenda Hampton

Brenda provided an overview of the breakout groups assignment. The groups were to discuss the four questions provided, then report back to the full meeting. Several RAC co-chairs were asked to describe scenarios that led to the development of the issues to be discussed. The issues include:

  • RAC member engagement including attendance, participation and representation (Emily Legner)
  • Rural Issues (Angela Catalano)
  • Clarity and Communication (Sam Johnson)
  • Transition of work to the hyperlocal level (Dennis Duke)

RAC/SAC Discussion of Current Implementation Status and Issues (Part 2): Peter Eckart

Peter Eckart asked the groups to discuss and report back on 3 issues posed by either SAC or RAC members:

  • (to SAC) What is your #1 expectations of the RACs?
    • Brent Reynolds: Communication out-back to SAC, but also to regions including those not sitting on the RAC, and each of the disciplines involved in CESSA
    • Drew Hansen: If you don't have representation from disciplines, reach out to some of the SAC members to reach out to various groups to get them to attend RAC meetings.
    • Blanca Campos: RACs are local experts regarding who needs to be at the table, resources. SAC members don't have that information; very valuable information.
    • Emily Miller: Rely on RACs because they know their areas best; Since RACs are asking, indicative of communication issues across the board; people are confused-who should be doing tasks, how it should happen.
    • Dr. David Albert: Cosign what others have been saying; New FY provides an opportunity to revisit RAC tasks, engagement issues, ensure that there is an understanding of what goals, tasks are. Look for an opportunity for a reset. What is the expectation-should cameras be turned on etc.
    • Communication is an issue; Reset based on lessons learned.
    • Dr. Lorrie Jones: The BHCH has been considering this issue. Recently had a Whiteboard session focusing on variety of Issues including restructuring of the work. The Hub will continue working on this planning effort and will report on it when completed.
  • (to SAC) What is the most important thing RACs can accomplish in the next 6 months?
    • Blanca Campos: Sub-committees are actively seeking input/feedback from RAC members;
    • Emily: RACs need to have complete membership/appropriate representation. Ensuring that each RAC member understands their purpose and role
    • Shelley Dallas: Specific disciplines within each RAC; that representatives of different groups are communicating to the groups that they represent
    • Brent Reynolds: What RAC challenges are and how can SAC support. SAC members could attend RAC meetings to help move things along
  • (From the RACs to the SAC): What big lessons have we learned to this point?
    • Drew Hansen: You don't know what you don't know and lack of knowledge/education re: mental health crises
    • Understanding that CESSA is growing and evolving while we are in the midst of it.
    • Cindy Barbera-Brelle: "A Day in the Life" Should each spend some time in each other's shoes to get a better understanding of what each does
    • Jessica Gimeno: It's about relationships- Building relationships-Embedding 911 in 988 and vice versa; Incremental progress is less intimidating than full blown implementation.
    • How important each person's voice is. Valuable to have discussions and hear others' comments.
    • Curtis Hall: Agree with all statements to implement the FY plan of reinvestment and re-examination of goals.

Review of Vision Statement and Values: Dr. Lorrie Rickman Jones

Vision Statement

Dr. Jones provided an overview of the CESSA Vision Statement and Values including comments received from Justin Houcek and Jessica Gimeno since the April 8th SAC meeting. These comments have been integrated and were included in a document sent to the SAC for review prior to this meeting.

Current Draft Vision: Individuals experiencing mental/behavioral health crisis are diverted from hospitalization or incarceration and are instead linked with available, appropriate community services.

Jessica presented Access Living's proposed modifications to the current draft Vision Statement. It was proposed that the February and March vision statements be combined, and that Dr. Margie Balfour's crisis framework be applied to the existing proposed values.

Access Living's Proposed Vision Statement: Individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use related emergency are diverted from hospitalization or incarceration, and are instead linked with available, appropriate community services that enable the individual to heal, recover and thrive.

After much discussion and suggested amendments to the Access Living proposed vision, the final vision statement was agreed upon for the vote of the SAC:

Final Draft for vote: Individuals experiencing mental health or substance-use related emergencies are deflected from unnecessary hospitalization or incarceration when appropriate and are linked with available, appropriate community services that enable the individual to recover, heal, and thrive.

Motion to adopt the vision was made by: Jim Kaitschuk and seconded by Cindy-Barbera Brelle.

Motion carried with 100% approval.

Values

The amended CESSA values were then read for approval via a vote by the SAC.

Draft values statement for vote:

  1. Demonstrate that behavioral health emergencies require responses consistent with emergency physical health care.
  2. Provide responses that are timely, welcoming, and coordinated, that are informed by latest research, and that reflect an appreciation for people's desire to self-direct what type of care they receive and where they receive it.
  3. Assure that responses to behavioral health emergencies requiring on-scene assistance and transportation to a service provider reflect a commitment to and a partnership with community-based supports; law enforcement interventions are a last resort-they are used as only appropriate based on the totality of the circumstances.
  4. Ensure the safety and well-being of all people present and/or involved in the entire process.
  5. Tailor strategies to the uniqueness of each community.
  6. Design systems and ensure quality using the insight and perspective of people with lived experiences.
  7. Base all efforts in equity, and an understanding that care must be responsive and accessible to a person's age, gender, culture, sexual orientation, disabilities, and other needs.

Motion to adopt the values was made by: Drew Hansen; Seconded by Blanca Campos. The motion carried with 100% approval

Proposed SAC Meeting Calendar for FY25: Lee Ann Reinert

Statutory authority to hold meetings of SAC after June 30th is on hold until the Governor approves and signs pending legislation. The options to be considered are:

  • Schedule meetings starting in September
  • Schedule an August Meeting with option to cancel if legislation is not signed
  • Schedule a final SAC meeting in late June

Motion to schedule FY25 meetings starting from September 2024 - June 2025 by Brent Reynolds, seconded by Drew Hansen. After some discussion, the motion carried with 100% approval.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned by Lee Ann Reinert at 4:00 pm.