Approved by Committee Members 02/10/2025
Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA) Statewide Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes - Monday, January 13, 2025 - 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Call to Order/Roll Call
- Director David Albert called the meeting to order at 1:03 pm
- Director David Albert reviewed the agenda; he will depart meeting at 2:00 PM after the first hour
Roll Call and Approval of Minutes from December 9, 2024
- James Henessy moved to approve the draft minutes from the December 9, 2024 meeting during roll call. Drew Hansen seconded the motion. Quorum of 10 confirmed and minutes approved.
- Members present and voted to approve:
- Curtis Harris
- James Hennessy
- David Albert
- Drew Hansen
- Rachael Ahart
- Jim Kaitschuk
- Blanca Campos
- Emily Miller
- Justin Houcek
- Jessica Gimeno (Designee for Candace Coleman)
- Peter Dyer
- Brittany Watson
- Members present and abstained:
- Members absent:
- Cindy Barbera-Brelle
- Brent Reynolds
State Updates (Lee Ann Reinert)
- David Albert: announcing Lee Ann Reinert's retirement
- Appointment process update with the assistance of Barbara Hobrock; committee members to receive official appointment letters as a formality
- Bobby Van Bebber: follow-up from Chief Gault's presentation
- At the regional and local levels, we need to address confusion about situations involving individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. This includes cases when a person lacks the capacity to refuse medical care and transport for evaluation or when an assessment indicates that they pose a clear risk t
- o themselves or others. We need to clarify where the responsibility for emergency department transfer lies. A key issue arises when the person in crisis refuses to go to the ED, but the EMS medical director, who is responsible for granting/denying their refusal, mandates care/transport due to risk of harm. A collaborative discussion needs to address when police should intervene to assist with involuntary transport. Conversation should include key SAC members, regional co-chairs, advocates, law enforcement, and any other stakeholders that want to engage.
- Lorries Jones: There is potential to convene separate open meeting on this issue
- Jim Kaitschuk: Agrees that there is a need for further conversation because there is a lot of negative reaction to law enforcement's engagement, but if someone's refusing, there are limited ways to address the refusal
- Rachel Ahart: Recently in Champaign County, figuring out how co-response can be utilized and working on a new protocol, where our mental health providers are able to assess and make a joint call to medical control. If the social workers' evaluation is that the individual doesn't need a higher level of emergency care, and that person can receive care and safety planning in the community, then they are able to get the sign off from the medical director to not bring that person in. Overarching goal to decrease unnecessary hospitalizations. A smaller discussion about this topic would be a good place to start; there is already local conversation happening but it would be good to share info/ideas.
UIC Behavioral Health Crisis Hub Updates (Dr. Lorrie Rickman Jones)
- New staff, Erin Condon, Project Associate
- Other staff positions to be filled in 2025
- Wednesday, June 11: Forum to be held; currently in the planning phase
- Thoughts and suggestions welcome to Lorrie/BHCH
Technical Subcommittee Updates
TSIDM Subcommittee (Dr. Mary Smith)
Training and Education Subcommittee (Terry Solomon)
- Jim Hennessy asked for the link to the training website; Sarah added to chat: https://bhch.uic.edu/pilots/
Protocols and Standards Subcommittee (Dr. Mary Smith)
- Pre-test completed and findings/recommendations were presented to the Protocol and Standards Subcommittee, which voted on recommendations in 5 areas: use of protocol, PSAP operations, training, data, and organizational change
- Several recommendations approved, but the ad hoc work group convened on December 16 to address remaining questions about protocol use
PowerPhone Incident Ad Hoc Workgroup December 16, 2024
Overarching Issues Identified During the Ad Hoc Workgroup Meeting
- Criteria for Calls Ruled Out for Transfer to 988 and MCRT for a Behavioral Health Response
- Definitions to Help Distinguish Between Types of Calls Transferred to 988 and MCRT
- Reassignment of Risk
- Use of Alerts in Protocols
Recommendations from Ad Hoc Workgroup
- About protocols that will include a question to bridge to mental health protocol (after rule-out questions asked) and protocols that will be assigned an alert only
PowerPhone Protocol Modifications
Behavioral Health Question and Bridge to Mental Health Protocol
- Describes how telecommunicators will identify unusual behavior in a standardized way
Behavioral Health Crisis Indicators
- A list of examples of unusual behavior
Overview of Protocol Implementation Process
- Between *Pilot-Test Preparation Including Training* and *Pilot Test of Protocol Changes and Dispatch Referrals and Evaluation of Pilots*
- Pilot test to kick off January 29; 3-month pilot phase followed by evaluation (and broader implementation)
Continued Total Response/PowerPhone Pilot Preparation
Pre-Test and Pilot Updates: Priority Dispatch and APCO
- Jim Hennessy asked about criteria for identifying strange and unusual behavior: Is there a reason why the question can't specifically ask, "Is there an appearance of a mental/behavioral health issue?"
- Mary explained that people may interpret mental/behavioral health in different ways; identifying "unusual behavior" may be more helpful
- Jim Hennessy: We ask "Do you have weapons?" That's a very specific question; we don't ask "Is there anything the person is doing that might be considered dangerous?" Asking specific questions helps us navigate the gray area
- Mary said that this matter can be addressed with other concerns during the pilot check-ins
Regional Updates (Brenda Hampton)
- 3 new RAC chairs and co-chairs
- RAC Communications activity
- Subregional committee updates
- Town Halls/Summits continuing
Communications Breakout Groups (Sarah Ferguson; in place of Pete Eckart)
- Breakout groups addressing the third goal articulated by the SAC membership: "Stakeholder groups understand the purpose of CESSA, what crisis response services will be available, and how to access them"
- Questions to discuss
- How does CESSA implementation affect you and the folks you represent on the SAC?
- What would be helpful messages for you and your constituents to understand CESSA? What about to support CESSA?
- How do we get that message to the right people in a way that they can hear it?
- How do we work with you to make sure this message gets out?
- Brent Reynolds and Director Albert absent for PSAPs breakout room; Jim Hennessy to join First responders breakout room
- First responders breakout room (led by Lorrie Jones)
- Multiple constituents said they don't yet know how CESSA will affect them and the folks they represent. What can people expect? What can each sector of the system expect? How is it going to affect them?
- How will it affect EMT? Law enforcement? PSAPs?
- Lots of confusion around involuntary commitment issue
- People in the breakout room can be messengers/mouthpieces for the folks they represent
- Continue to invite people to get involved in the process
- Local collaboration is key for the success of CESSA
- Community mental/behavioral health providers breakout room (led by Brenda Smith; report out by Emily Miller)
- Breakout room consisted of two out of three behavioral health TRADE associations in Illinois; representing provider organizations who provide mobile crisis response and organizations that serve people with intellectual/developmental disabilities
- The need to ensure that we are not creating more confusion, especially when we're talking about the crisis system for children/SAS
- Be mindful about confusing two coexisting systems
- Clearly define and divvy up responsibilities
- Need clear and consistent messaging across age groups
- Clear and simple message for consumers
- Comprehensive messages for providers/stakeholders
- Education/communication opportunity and/or idea: The Division of Developmental Disabilities currently has a contract with the Illinois Crisis Prevention Network; they do training webinars about providing crisis supports to individuals serviced by DDD
- Providers have difficulty communicating with law enforcement; law enforcement turnover makes it difficult for a consistent message to flow down
- Lorrie asked Jim Kaitschuk to weigh in about effectively sharing the message and he recommended using the Chiefs or Sheriffs associations (so that the message comes from above). Need top-level collaboration between the 590 organizations and law enforcement associations
- Advocates breakout room (led by Mary Smith; report out by Jessica Gimeno)
- CESSA reduces reliance on law enforcement; for disabled people, seemingly benign interactions with law enforcement can be deadly
- The need for more living rooms and less use of force
- People with IDD and autism are very vulnerable, so peer specialists should be included in the process
- General ignorance about 988, as many people continue to call 911 despite the existence of 988
- Need to educate public about crisis response and about 988 vs. 911 vs. 211
- Doctors can be ambassadors for CESSA
- Targeted campaigns for high-risk groups and emphasizing the importance of alternatives to hospitalization
- According to a Missouri campaign, people primarily know about 988 through 1) TV, 2) word of mouth, and 3) social media
- QR codes may be helpful for certain age groups
- Application to type in your zip code and pull up a list of local resources
- YouTube (receives the majority of Internet traffic)
SAC Next Steps (Lee Ann Reinert)/Next Meeting Dates
- February 10, 2025 (virtual)
- March 10, 2025 (Access Living in Chicago)
Public comment
- Lynette Bergerone: I see that police protocols have been added such as suspicious person. Do all the PSAPs that use Priority Dispatch and APCO have police protocols? (My understanding is that police and fire protocols have to be purchased separately.) If not, how will they be able to follow the protocols?
- Lee Ann has noted Lynette's question and the answer will be discussed next month
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by Lee Ann Reinert at 2:45 pm.
