Call center connects Nebraskans to health services

October was Domestic Violence Awareness month, and ne211.org helped spread awareness by promoting its 2-1-1 call center.

The call center helps Nebraskans get access to benefits offered by their community’s health and human services.

“We put a link up about domestic violence,” said Nancy Shank, associate director of the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. “It’s a great way to raise our visibility.”

The Public Policy Center provides administrative support, and UNL’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering provides technical support.

“Every month, we try to add things that reflect what’s going on in Nebraska in terms of services we think should be available,” Shank said.

She listed recession survival tips, food stamp programs and information about H1N1 as some of the services that have been added.

The call center is run by United Way of the Midlands and can be reached by dialing 2-1-1 in 39 counties in Nebraska and eight in Iowa, Shank said.

“Once you reach the call, there is information that is available to you about basic human needs like child care, assistance with rent, finding food pantries, finding employment information – just a variety of things that relate to health and human services,” said Jamie Moore,  vice president for volunteer and community services at United Way of the Midlands.

Assistance can be reached in more than 150 languages in a three-way call situation, Moore said. Once callers indicate they need assistance in a foreign language, the call specialist talks with a translator.

“In terms of the data you get on the Web site versus calling 2-1-1, it now is exactly the same data that a call specialist is looking at,” Shank said.

One of the few differences is that the Web site is not offered in 150 languages.

“That would be a reason for someone to call, if they don’t comprehend English when they read it,” Moore said.

The Web site is available to anyone with Internet access, while 2-1-1 is available to anyone within the selected counties, Shank explained.

“There’s a slight difference in the statistics of people that search on the Web site versus the people that call 2-1-1,” Shank said. “We see more searches about mental health issues. They feel more comfortable making Web searches. And there’s a whole generation of people that would rather search the Web than talk on the phone.”
nicolestaton@dailynebraskan.com