Biz/Tech
(2009-11-15)
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Kathleen Southwick, director of the Crisis Clinic, in the King County 2-1-1 Information Line Call Center in Seattle, November 13, 2009.
Gary Davis photo.
At the King County 2-1-1 Information Line call center in Seattle, workers field hundreds of calls for help each day.
It's not unusual for this call center to be really busy. What is unusual is that the call center staff are only able to keep up with a little more than half the calls they get. This year they'll field an estimated 200,000 of them. That's up 25% from last year. The Crisis Clinic manages King County 2-1-1. Director Kathleen Southwick says in addition to more calls, her staff spends about twice as much time on the phone with each caller.
"We're seeing increased emotional content and multiple needs for people who are calling, whereas before people would call with maybe one or two requests. Now they have three or four requests, and they're very complicated situations."
It's easy to understand how it gets that way. Many who will call these days are seeking help for the very first time in their lives. How can Southwick tell? Their backlog of problems is one clue. People accustomed to holding it together are becoming overwhelmed. Another clue: a spike in the number of callers wondering how to claim unemployment.
"So if people are calling 2-1-1 asking, 'How do I get unemployment?' that says these are people who never had a clue about interfacing with any government or any social services system."
Southwick says signs of the recession are also reflected in the types of referrals that are on the increase: rental and mortgage assistance, help with utility bills. Those same types of requests are flooding help lines across Washington. Shaun Parkhurst directs the South Sound 2-1-1 call center in Tacoma, operated by United Way of Pierce County.
"We're having a really difficult time managing the volumes that are coming in right now," says Parkhurst.
The worst part, says Kathleen Southwick, is when there's no referral to make to a caller, because the service is either full or it hasn't survived the recession itself.
"People are falling through the cracks. And so it's very important federal government maintain the safety net of programs and make sure they are working when they allocate that money to the states," Southwick says. She recently took that message to Washington D.C., when she testified on the condition of the frayed safety net to a subcommittee of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. More state and county budget cuts are coming next year. Washington State estimates a $2 billion shortfall. Southwick says it may be two or three years before people most in need will see relief from an economic turnaround. Gary Davis, KPLU News, Seattle.
Links to Help Through 2-1-1
King County 2-1-1
South Sound 2-1-1
Washington Information Network 2-1-1
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