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PHHS board approves First Call for Help as Cook County's mobile crisis provider of record
Summary
After a presentation and Q&A, the Public Health & Human Services Board voted to make First Call for Help the provider of record for mobile crisis response in Cook County, moving grant administration and day-to-day licensed service responsibilities from county-run operations to the nonprofit.
The Public Health and Human Services Board voted to approve a proposal making First Call for Help the provider of record for Cook County's mobile crisis response. Commissioner Gabel moved the measure and Commissioner Sullivan seconded; the motion passed with unanimous aye votes and one abstention (the transcript does not identify the abstaining member).
Cree Larson, executive director of First Call for Help, described a model that would move licensed administration and grant receipts to her agency while retaining local partnerships and aiming to employ locally based responders. "We answer 47 counties for that," Larson said, noting First Call's statewide crisis-line experience and the group's capacity to recruit and train locally based responders, peer support specialists and certified peers.
PHHS staff framed the change as a way to ensure sustainable 24/7 coverage and to align Cook County with neighboring counties that contract for mobile crisis services. Staff said the county currently runs an in-house daytime model (0.8 FTE) for Monday'Thursday daytime in-person response and relies on Brightwater for after-hours clinical supervision and telehealth coverage.
Officials stressed there would be no change to how the public accesses the service: calls will continue to be routed through 988 or the regional crisis number (844-772-4724). Cree Larson and First Call representatives said grant funds that currently pass through Cook County would be redirected to First Call for Help to cover the operating costs of the expanded provider model; PHHS would remain a local partner and support implementation.
Board members asked detailed operational questions about training, safety protocols and dispatch. Larson outlined a paging and triage model that identifies the closest trained responder(s) and tracks responders for safety, with follow-up checks and law enforcement backup if a responder does not confirm on-scene safety. The board also heard that mobile crisis expenditures have been reimbursed through ABHI grants and that a new two-year grant cycle is open with ABHI applying for awards that could flow to the contracted provider.
The motion passed later in the meeting; the board expressed appreciation for the proposal and for ongoing local involvement in shaping the service.
Next steps: staff and First Call will work on transition details, credentialing and training plans and on communications to ensure continuity of access while the service moves from county administration to a contracted provider of record.
