Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA) Region 3 Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes - January 16, 2024 - 8:30-10:00 via Teams
Meeting Minutes - Approved by Members 09/17/2024
Call to Order/Introductions
- Emily Legner called the meeting to order at 8:30am.
- Member Attendees: Sara Rolando, Mark Schmitz, Jessica Douglas, Olivia Mefford, Kristen Chiaro
- State Representative: Darkwa Asantewaa
- Public Attendees: Brian Kieninger
- Absences: Daniel Hough, Chad Dooley, Andrew Wade, John Simon, Devron Ohrn, Trenda Hedges, Amy Toberman, Chris Mueller
Meeting Logistics/Open Meetings Act
- Open Meetings Act site at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General
- Meetings are recorded. You may choose to turn off your camera.
- Minutes will be posted at the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health on the Open Meetings page.
- Minutes will be posted after they have been approved at the following RAC meeting.
- Please remain on mute during the meeting unless you want to have some discussion. If you would like to speak, please raise your hand to get the presenters attention.
- Only appointed members may contribute to the discussion at any point during the meeting. Members of the public will be able to speak during the "Public Comment" session of the meeting.
Approval of Minutes from July 18th, 2023/November 21, 2023/December 19, 2023 and January 16, 2024 Meetings
- Motion to approve the minutes could not take place due to not enough attendees.
- No Quorum
State Updates - Darkwa Asantewaa
- We have been meeting with Powerphone to begin implementation and work with them to change their protocols, and we have also begun meetings with Priority Dispatch as well.
- It will be Powerphone first then Priority Dispatch, APCO, then the independents.
Vendor Updates
- Powerphone agreed to make these changes to all identified incident protocols that may have more relevance to the people within the Behavioral health crisis, but they are not going to limit it to just that. They are willing to look at other incidents that may require behavioral health or mental health response and support.
- The people who have been on that team making those decisions are licensed clinicians, PSAP, expert consultants and persons with lived experience.
- They are hoping to have the protocols completed by January and then submitted to Powerphone.
- They are going to create subcommittee meetings. There will be one with Priority dispatch and independents.
Project Plan Updates
- The RAC was supposed to have selected the pilot PSAP by this time. The Co-chair did have a conversation with the new director in Christian County and she seemed onboard.
- She wanted to take this back to her board for approval; several documents and links have been sent to her to review so she had more information.
- The next step is identifying those key stakeholders who will be involved in moving this process forward.
- Once Christian County agrees to be the RAC's pilot, we will start contacting those individuals to create a workgroup. These will be core people trying to help this pilot get off the ground.
- The workgroup will initially review:
- What's the outline look like?
- What does the project plan look like?
- What are our timelines?
- What are our goals and expectations?
- We will hold monthly meetings going forward, then the next big step would be meeting with the pilot PSAP and the EMD to review the information that had been developed and the new protocol process changes and modifications.
- Some guidance was provided from the state regarding our project plans, so the RAC Co-chair will be adding/amending some pieces of our project plan draft, though no significant changes will be made.
911/988 Transfer Draft Guidance Preview
- The purpose of this guidance is to try to clarify what those call referral procedures are going to be between 911 and 988 and make sure there is consistency across the state and how we are doing this.
- They will help determine appropriate dispatch decisions or referrals
- This is just a draft; it is not complete.
- Reviewed difference between 911 and 988.
- 911's job is to assess what's going on, gather information, assign a response based on the protocols and ensure the safety of everybody involved. They will assist with identification of resources if that's needed.
- When someone calls 988 they are connected to a trained counselor who will try to determine what's going on with that person, assess that person's safety, understand what they can do to help. They will also try to ensure safety of people involved, create a safety plan with that individual, they will link them up to the resources. They will then ask them if they would like a follow up call and they will complete a follow up call to check in.
- 988 will engage 911 or Mobile Crisis if needed, or they'll refer individuals to the emergency department if needed.
- The guide will outline how we share information back and forth between 911 and 988 while not violating any local, federal, or state laws.
- They're trying to create some guidance around HIPAA.
- The guidance identifies when a warm transfer between 911 and 988 is required, and how that must be done..
- The guidance also helps outline for what kind of information should be shared between 911 and 988 when they're transferring those calls and making those referrals to each other.
- This guide will include guidance on people who need translation services. We know that 911 translation services are different than 988 translation services, mostly because we all have our own separate agencies that these are held in.
- They are coming up with some guidance related to trying not to have a caller lost.
- They are also looking at guidance for Text and Chat. There are not text and chat capabilities between 911 and 988 right now.
- The two options for the process:
- Centralized Dispatch: Having one single repository that is getting all incoming calls regarding mental health. With this technology they could receive transfers from 911 with the push of a button. Then the capability to determine the Mobile Crisis response Team in their area. That is not built.
- One Dedicated 988 Vendor: Vendor gets all the calls from 911, they would have to answer within three rings and then they would assess the call and get to it. No crisis response resolved on the line or it is minimal and engage again if needed.
- This doesn't mean that these are the only options we are going to choose or use but know that the discussion is taking place. I know this is a concern. We are talking about how we get the technology or a process that will prevent the caller from having to repeat themselves over and over to different individuals. We do not want that.
Questions from the Committee
* No questions
Next Meeting on February 20, 2024 at 8:30am.
Public Comment
* No public comments.
Dismissal
* Emily Legner adjourned the meeting at 8:50 am.
