Lake County committee approves $100,282 purchase to add emergency medical dispatch protocols

The Lake County Technology Committee on Aug. 29 approved a joint resolution to purchase a Priority Dispatch Corp. back-end database for $100,281.95 to add Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) protocols to the county 9-1-1 center.

Bernard Melkov, IT manager for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, told committee members the sheriff’s office is operating under a waiver from the Illinois State Police that exempts them from EMD certification and that the waiver may end. "Previously, the Lake County Sheriff's Office has been working off a waiver from Illinois State Police, 9 1 1 authority for not having emergency medical dispatch," Melkov said. He said the Lake County Emergency Telephone System Board (ATSB) has funded the majority of the project—"74,000 and change"—and the county is being asked to approve the total contract because it exceeds the committee’s approval threshold.

The system integrates with the county’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and guides dispatchers through health‑care protocols approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health, Melkov said. He described the product as "an online system that's integrated with our CAD system that we use to dispatch units. It's all integrated, so it goes into the call, and it gives the questions that the dispatcher asks. And then they input the information and it gives the next step of instructions while the ambulance is underway." The county’s purchase will cover the portion the ATSB did not fund.

Committee members asked how quickly the system could be implemented and whether it would eliminate call transfers. Melkov said licensing can be enabled quickly and that dispatchers must complete a three‑day certification course; however, he also said EMD will not remove the need to transfer some calls to fire dispatch centers. "This just allows us to start the call and provide the emergency medical dispatch for those calls. In those circumstances, we'd still have to transfer that call to Glenview or Deerfield or the proper fire department," Melkov said.

Member Peterson questioned the need for a second 9-1-1 capability in Lake County and expressed concern about the $100,000 price, noting the county already uses LakeCOM for many emergency calls. Melkov said the system will let the sheriff’s office act as backup for PSAPs (public-safety answering points) during outages and allow dispatchers to provide life‑saving medical instructions before a transfer when appropriate.

The motion to approve the purchase was made by Member Danforth, seconded by Kazbin, and the committee voted "aye"; the chair declared the motion carried.

Implementation details recorded during discussion: the ATSB funded roughly $74,000; the county pays the remaining amount not covered by ATSB; dispatchers must be certified; training is a three‑day course; the software is integrated into existing CAD; the purchase is intended to ensure compliance if the Illinois State Police waiver ends and to provide backup capability for other county PSAPs.

No ordinance or statute was cited as a barrier to the purchase beyond the Illinois State Police waiver and the Department of Public Health–approved protocols that the EMD system is designed to support.

The committee did not specify an exact date to enable the software but Melkov said integration could proceed "quite quickly" once licensing is approved and dispatchers complete certification.