South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Federal officials look to smooth transition to 3-digit suicide phone hotline
People in crisis and those trying to help them will have a new phone number — 988 — to reach the national suicide prevention network starting in July. Federal health officials recently announced more than $280 million to smooth the transition from the current 10-digit number to three digits. The new 988 number will also handle text and chat.
“We know that remembering a three-digit number beats a 10-digit number any day, particularly in times of crisis, and I encourage every state to rev up planning to implement 988 for the sake of saving lives,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
Mental health experts are hoping that the threedigit number will deliver a breakthrough in assisting people in crisis who may otherwise try to harm themselves.
People who call, text or chat 988 will be able to reach trained counselors who belong to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. Counselors at more than 180 local centers listen to people in crisis and provide support, connecting them with other services as may be needed. According to the Lifeline, the new dialing code will be available throughout the country starting July
16. The network currently relies on a 10-digit number,
800-273-TALK (8255), to route calls to crisis centers.
Of the $282 million recently announced, $177 million will go to bolster and expand the existing crisis network’s operations and telephone infrastructure, including centralized chat and text response, backup capacity and a sub-network for Spanishspeakers. The rest of the money, $105 million, will go to build up staffing at local call centers.
Suicide had been the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming more than 47,000 lives in 2019, but dropped to 11th in 2020, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic, which killed at least 345,000 Americans and became the nation’s No. 3 killer.
Suicide attempts result in more than 300,000 people seen in hospital emergency departments for self-harm injuries. Rates of suicide rose steadily over much of the last 20 years, and it remains a leading cause of premature death for people from their teens well into their 50s.