211 seeks to expand list of referral groups

BOISE – If there’s a service group, religious organization or volunteer effort in your community that provides free health-related services to Idahoans, the state wants to send people their way.

Idahoans who need non-emergency referrals to health-related or social services have been able to call the state’s 211 “Idaho CareLine” since 2002, but now the state is launching a push to expand the programs and services included in the quick-dial referral hot line.

“The 211 CareLine is the method by which we put the people together with the services,” Gov. Jim Risch said Tuesday.

Risch and other state officials gathered in the CareLine’s Boise call center where, with quiet murmurs, operators in the background were taking calls from across the state.

Skip Oppenheimer, co-chairman of the Governor’s Coordinating Council for Families and Children, said the hope is for a 20 percent increase in programs and services included in the CareLine referral service – and because there are already more than 3,382 programs and services registered for referral, that’d mean hundreds more.

Many government programs already are listed, but the CareLine hopes to increase the number of nonprofit, volunteer, service group or faith-based programs that are included. Idaho first lady Vicki Risch said the project is being called “Mapping Idaho,” with the idea that pieces are missing from the current map of services available to Idahoans, and the missing pieces of the map should be filled in.

To be listed for referrals, a program or service must provide free or low-cost sliding-fee service and comply with any applicable licensing requirements, said Pat Williams, Idaho CareLine director.

Those with programs or services they’d like to have listed can call 211, go to www.Idaho CareLine.org or call (800) 926-2588.

The Idaho CareLine gets an average of 14,000 calls a month and, through a translator service, can take calls in almost any language.

There are 39 states that offer the 211 referral service, but not all are statewide. Idaho was the fourth state to take the service statewide, Williams said, though it’s available only on land-line phones for now. The state is working with cellular phone providers to try to extend it.

The referral services include programs that provide help with everything from prenatal care to senior issues.