By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

The United Way of Crawford County officially launched the 2-1-1 information and referral line on Wednesday, making it the 64th county in Ohio to join the program.

The program is a telephone number that links callers to health and human service information and referral through trained certified specialists. The 2-1-1 services are free and available 24-hours a day. Anyone can call 2-1-1 to have their questions answered about services in Crawford County. The specialist will ask the caller questions in order to find the right services available.

Ohio United Way approached the local United Way nearly a year ago for the program.

“We decided, ‘ok we’ll kind of feel it out,’” Amber Wertman, Executive Director of the United Way of Crawford County, explained. “We decided, okay, this might be a good thing. It’s not like it’s something new. Other places are doing the same thing. It’s not just an Ohio thing but a national level.”

After reaching out to area organizations to see if the call service would be a good fit, Wertman decided to move the local United Way forward with the idea.

The program is not funded through local United Way campaign funds. Rather, Wertman said, the program is funded through a grant from the Ohio United Way and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services for the first three years. Wertman hopes to obtain partial grants to fund the program in future years.

Calls from Crawford County residents will be directed to the call center in Cleveland, which will be constantly updated on issues in the county. The program will also maintain relationships with emergency services in the area.

“It is so significant and so important to recognize that we understand that people’s problems don’t just take place from nine to five,” noted Barbara Sykes, President and CEO of Ohio United Way. “We will be there.”

Wertman said the United Way of Crawford County remains committed to its local programs and agencies but believed the 2-1-1 program would be a beneficial tool for its partner agencies.

The 2-1-1 service will be launching a volunteer database for Crawford County, which will be the first of its kind. It will also feature online chat features at www.211crawford.org and text services.

By the end of October, the 2-1-1 program will be established in 67 counties in Ohio.

“2-1-1 is important because it’s just one more way to cast a large net and provide services as far as where to go for those services, mainly health and human services, food, shelter clothing,” Wertman said.

“I think 2-1-1 is all about making it easy for people,” said Diane Gatto, Director of the Cleveland 2-1-1 Call Center. “Making it easy for people to connect. It is a gateway to find information about health and human services. It’s a gateway for public health. It’s a gateway for emergency management. It’s a way for people to have a two-way conversation when they’re confused and don’t know what to do.”

Wertman said it will also come in handy during certain times in the year, such as tax preparation and Medicaid and Medicare questions.

“I know they’ve been getting a lot of questions CDC-wise on Ebola and maybe anything else that might come up in that respect. And then you also have the EMA aspect,” Wertman said. “It’s going to be great to steer people away from 9-1-1 calls that are not emergencies and it frees them up to do what they need to do.”

“They’re really working on our behalf,” Duana Patton, CEO of Area Agency on Aging, believed. “We are an information and referral organization. It is what we do for seniors, for families, for caregivers. But we are only as good as the folks that work around us.”

Patton said her team can’t know everything and relies on services like 2-1-1.

“2-1-1 is a gateway. It’s a gateway for all of us to find the people who need us in their time of need, whatever it might be,” Patton said. “If 2-1-1- can be as relevant as 9-1-1 and 4-1-1, we will have accomplished a lot in this community.”

“With all these things – and it’s a lot – it makes it a really positive thing for our county. And, again, it’s not to take away from any services we already have, but, rather, to magnify them and to let people know where to go to get quick easy answers for what their needs are. That’s the beauty of 2-1-1. We hope it will continue to grow and be a positive thing for Crawford County.”

Wertman, along with Patton and Bucyrus Public Library librarian Barb Scott, made the inaugural 2-1-1 call for Crawford County during the launch party. The video can be found below on how to request information from a 2-1-1 specialist.

Organizations can search www.211crawford.org to make sure their information is current. If it is not current, Wertman said the organization can call 2-1-1 directly or the United Way of Crawford County to update it.

“They are constantly in real-time updating information, 24-hours-a-day sometimes. So they really know that their services are only as good as the information in there,” Wertman said. “We want to make sure that they know everything that they could possibly know about Crawford County.”

Wertman and Gatto cautioned that some calls from cell phones or certain businesses may not be able to get through.

“If they do not get through – again, since today is the first launch, we’ve just recently transferred over all the cell phones, all the 419 and other area codes that might make the call – and so, if you’re getting a busy signal or an error signal we need to know about that so we can work out those kinks. Being such a brand new thing, just give us a call,” Wertman said. “Any issues or anything, we need to know about that, too.”