CESSA Protocols and Standards Subcommittee Meeting - Approved Minutes 06/26/2025

Time: 2:30 - 4:00 PM

Via Zoom

Call to Order/Review of Official Notices (Jessica Gimeno)

Meeting called to order by Jessica Gimeno at 2:34 pm (via Zoom)
Jessica Gimeno reviewed OMA Official Notices

Roll Call (Erin Condon)

Members present: Rachael Ahart, Blanca Campos, Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman), Pete Dyer, Drew Hansen, James Hennessy, Justin Houcek, Brent Reynolds
Members absent: David Albert, Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Brittany Watson, Bobby Van Bebber
Quorum is present

Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes (Erin Condon)

Approval of minutes from May 15, 2025
- James Hennessy made a motion to approve the minutes; Brent Reynolds seconded the motion
- Members voted to approve: Rachael Ahart, Blanca Campos, Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman), Pete Dyer, James Hennessy, Justin Houcek, Brent Reynolds
- Not available at time of vote: Drew Hansen
- May 15, 2025, minutes are approved
Approval of minutes from June 5, 2025
- James Hennessy made a motion to approve the minutes; Pete Dyer seconded the motion
- Members voted to approve: Rachael Ahart, Blanca Campos, Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman), Pete Dyer, Drew Hansen, James Hennessy, Justin Houcek, Brent Reynolds
- June 5, 2025, minutes are approved

State Updates (Dr. Mary Smith)

Allie Lichterman (who represents David Albert) is at a CIT meeting in Peoria; not available to provide updates
Crisis Hub update: Behavioral Health Crisis Continuum Forum (June 11, 18, 25) was well-attended and received positive reviews from attendees; presentations and recordings are available now on the Hub website
- Blanca Campos: Great job. I thought the sessions and speakers were all great. It was very informative. Thanks for all the work on a great program.

Pilot Updates (Dr. Mary Smith)

Total Response
- Weekly meetings with PSAPs
Updates on referrals or issues for discussion
Familiar callers
- Bi-weekly meetings with Centerstone and MCRT
- Use of protocols and meetings will continue
Priority Dispatch
- Update on Pilot Initiation
Nine sites have launched
One site is training staff on Protocol 41 (Caller in Crisis-1st Party Only)
- Weekly meetings with PSAPs
- Bi-weekly meetings with Centerstone and MCRT
APCO
- Convened first meeting with three pilot sites June 9th
Training initiated
Second meeting will occur mid July with PSAPs, 988 and MCRT
- Planned pilot launch August 1
- APCO principals are currently making updates to protocols and cards with possible behavioral health components that mirror questions/risk factors added to Total Response protocols

FY 2026 (Dr. Mary E. Smith)

Mary Smith: If you were on the SAC meeting, you would have heard that ~127 calls have been transferred from 911 to 988. What we have planned is actually occurring. We expect the numbers to continue to go up as folks get more used to the processes. I think we are on the right road. Any questions?
- James Hennessy: Who are the three sites that are going to be piloting for APCO?
- Brenda Hampton:
  - RAC #1; PSAP: Winnebago County; Program 590 MCRT Agencies: Rosecrance (primary) and NYAP (secondary)
  - RAC #7; PSAP: Justice Police Department; Program 590 MCRT Agencies: Metropolitan Family Services (RAC #7)
  - RAC #9; Tri-Comm (Kane County); Program 590 MCRT Agencies: Association for Individual Development (AID) and Ecker
- James Hennessy: When we start diving into the pilot data, what is the timeframe for that? We're all on different timeframes, so how does that data distribution work when we review it and see if there are any tweaks to be made? How does that process start?
- Mary Smith: We're hoping to take all of the data that we've gathered through June 30, then begin analyzing that next week. So, we hope to get the bulk of the analysis done during July, so that maybe by the end of July we would be able to share. You know, what some of the trends look like from the data that's been collected with this group.
- James Hennessy: Is that data going to be presented in this Committee? Or is that something that goes straight to SAC?
- Mary Smith: It will be presented here first, because we want to get feedback from this subcommittee...One of the things that Dr. Jones talked about at the SAC meeting is that this subcommittee will be pretty busy over the summer, even while the other technical subcommittees may be able to take a break. We really need to look at the results and have conversations about what the results and trends mean. We need to look at challenges before moving forward with implementation. We also may need to meet more than twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Thursday.

Vote on FY 2026 Meeting Schedule (Erin Condon)

In FY 25, meetings were held virtually 2:30-4:00 PM on the first and third Thursdays of each month, unless otherwise noted
Proposed Rescheduled Dates for July (due to holidays)
- July 10 (from July 3)
- July 24 (from July 17)
Proposing to continue meeting 1st and 3rd Thursdays 2:30-4 pm in FY 26 (starting in August)
There may be requests to schedule additional meetings over the summer as discussed at the last SAC meeting
Approval to move July 3 meeting to July 10
- Brent Reynolds made a motion to hold meeting on July 10; James Hennessy seconded the motion
- Members voted to approve: Rachael Ahart, Blanca Campos, Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman), Pete Dyer, James Hennessy, Justin Houcek, Brent Reynolds, Drew Hansen
- Qurom voted to hold July 10 meeting (rescheduled from July 3)
Approval to move July 17 meeting to July 24
- Brent Reynolds, Jessica Gimeno, Rachael Ahart, and Blanca Campos will not be able to attend on July 24
- Ultimately Subcommittee members decided to forgo the July 24 vote, because of several expected absences. Hub will circulate poll to find a better second date in July to meet.
Approval to adopt proposed meeting schedule for FY 26 (1st and 3rd Thursdays 2:30-4 pm)
- Brent Reynolds made a motion to adopt the proposed schedule; Justin Houcek seconded the motion
- Members voted to approve: Rachael Ahart, Blanca Campos, Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman), Pete Dyer, James Hennessy, Justin Houcek, Brent Reynolds, Drew Hansen
- Qurom voted to adopt meeting schedule for FY 2026; calendar invites will be sent out in the upcoming week

Questions from the Committee (Jessica Gimeno)

Justin Houcek: For those familiar callers, could we take their address and send a reminder via USPS or email? Or is their state of mind such that this will continuously be a problem that is hard to solve?
Mary Smith: I'm not sure. I think people are used to calling 911 for an emergency response. So, in some ways, it's working with folks to let them know they can call 911 and talk to a crisis counselor. We had a brief discussion about this yesterday with the Priority Dispatch PSAP administrators, and there was at least one person recommending that if there was a co-response or MCRT within the area, perhaps they could be connected with the individual, to tie them in or link them with community services. This is something we are going to look at over the next couple weeks and try to strategize. Repeat callers who get transferred to 988 and get an explanation about 988 are still used to calling 911. So, it is something to look at.
Jessica Gimeno: It look people 10 years to get acclimated to 911, so hopefully it won't take 10 years, but it doesn't happen overnight.
Mary Smith: It's definitely a process and a huge change.

Public Comment

* None

Adjournment

James Hennessy made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Pete Dyer seconded the motion
Members voted to adjourn: Rachael Ahart, Blanca Campos, Jessica Gimeno (designee for Candace Coleman), Pete Dyer, James Hennessy, Justin Houcek, Brent Reynolds, Drew Hansen
With quorum approval, Jessica Gimeno adjourned the meeting at 3:07 pm