Clallam County commissioners spent an extended portion of their Sept. 22 work session debating replacements and upgrades for detention-facility monitoring systems, medical sensors and a possible countywide jail-management system.

County clinical and detention staff presented multiple, connected procurement items: (1) a waiver to sole-source purchase room-mounted medical sensor monitors already in use in the jail (vendor: Reassurance Solutions LLC) for three juvenile facility rooms, (2) a proposed cloud-based replacement for the juvenile "PIPE" welfare-check system (Guardian RFID / web-based software) to digitize welfare checks and add medical-monitoring features, and (3) longer-term options for a full jail-management system that could integrate tracking, reporting and (where needed) an Epic electronic health record interface for medication administration records.

Staff said the medical sensors monitor heart and respiration rates and trigger alarms for nursing staff; the juvenile facility requested units for a padded room and two segregation rooms. Facilities and jail staff described the devices as out-of-reach, covered and already rolled out elsewhere in the state, and said they allow faster medical response. A county vendor quote for an integrated RFID/cloud system was discussed at roughly $98,750 with annual maintenance and replacement guarantees discussed in the transcript.

Several participants urged caution about using HCA grant dollars before the county finalizes the clinical services model and an amended HCA budget. Information-technology staff asked commissioners to delay committing to a three-year subscription and to evaluate additional vendors: "We can't support this purchase. I'm sorry. We would request that it be postponed with further discussion," one IT/sheriff representative said, noting Epic is required for prescription documentation and that duplication of records could occur if multiple tracking systems are adopted. County staff said the HCA grant was written to support technology and clinical services but that budgets will need amendment as clinical staffing choices become clear.

Commissioners and staff proposed a near-term path: run additional vendor demonstrations over about three weeks and provide an amended HCA budget and a joint recommendation. Several commissioners supported a short delay (about a month) to allow demos and financial analysis; the Board asked staff to return with options, including interim maintenance of the existing PIPE system if the county delays replacing it. Commissioners and staff signaled the need to evaluate compatibility across juvenile and jail facilities, potential savings from shared procurement and longer-term costs for a full jail-management system.