News
Info's as easy as 2-1-1
by Janine
Manny
The
Daily News [Longview, WA], April 23, 2007
Looking for answers? Need help
finding help?
Assistance is now only one three-digit number away.
A new 211 line for information
is available for
social services in Cowlitz, Clark, Wahkiakum
and Skamania counties.
"There are so many agencies to provide help, and so little
resources," Jen
Matheson,
outreach coordinator for 211 information, said last week. "We're here
to
make sure people get to what is available."
Matheson said dialing 211 is a lot easier than making a bunch
of calls to
several social service agencies, a process that can lead to dead ends
and
frustration.
"Some callers need a food box or help
paying a utility bill," Matheson said. "We're getting callers who
have never had to access social services before. Maybe someone has lost
their
job and needs to find out how to contact the Department of Health and
Social
Services. Maybe it's a parent whose child had been diagnosed with an
illness
and they need to find a support group."
The 211 call center provides information on food banks,
health care, public
agencies, legal services, employment services, counseling and support
groups,
support for children and families, tax assistance, housing and
emergency
shelter.
The call center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The center also can
be reached at 1-877-501-0252 from a pay phone or cell phone.
A few cell phone companies offer the direct 211 link, but
most don't yet. That
needs to be changed, Matheson said, because many people in transition
may only
have a cell phone.
Although the call center is located in Portland,
Matheson said her "data people" have compiled an amazing amount of
information about Cowlitz
and Wahkiakum
counties.
"We want people to know we have a well-trained call center and a
well-trained resource department," Matheson said. "We're trying to be
the encyclopedia of information services."
She said call center operators
are trained as case managers. The employees can
provide callers with an agency's hours and eligibility requirements,
and they
can help navigate them through local government offices, schools and
medical
centers.
"We offer 'mini-sessions' to help the caller decide what help is needed
and how to process the information," Matheson said. "Each call center
is unique to its community and
focuses
on what kind of specialized information
is needed."
Matheson said about 5 percent of the callers are asked to
give their phone
number, so the center can check back later and see if their needs were
met and
track any gaps is service.
Dozens of 211 network centers are scattered across the
country. The local 211
office opened in 2004 to serve the Portland
metro area and handles about 13,000 calls a month. The service has been
available to Southwest Washington since last year, but only 100 or so
of those
calls come from Cowlitz
and Wahkiakum
counties.
The call center is now prepared and eager to provide more
help, according to
Matheson. The call center expects around 6,000 calls a year -- 500 a
month --
from Cowlitz County
once the word is out about the
service.
The call centers are set up to help during emergencies,
taking some of the
burden off the 911 system. If there was a disaster in this area, such
as an
earthquake, that knocked the Portland call center
off-line, calls would be routed to other centers in Washington. The funding
comes from a combination of United Way support and contracts with
state agencies. Funding from the State of Washington
after last year's legislative session allowed enlarging the data base,
expanding into Southwest Washington and
offering the 24-hour service.
English- and
Spanish-speaking operators are in Portland, and the center is connected to
an
interpreters' network that offers help in 150 languages.
The resource information
is also available online at www.211info.org.
|
|
|
|
