McClatchy DC reporter offers behind the scenes look at how 988 Lifeline story came together

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

BEHIND THE SCENES ON OUR 988 LIFELINE STORY

Via Gillian Brassil...

It all started with a press conference.

I primarily cover Congress so one sunny D.C. afternoon in March, I attended a press conference with California Sen. Alex Padilla, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and a couple other lawmakers who have long pressed the need for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to be geo-routed.

Right now, callers are routed to centers that match the three-digit area code of their phone number: Someone with a Baltimore phone number would be routed there, even if the person is in Sacramento.

Geographical routing or “geo-routing” does not give a caller’s precise location. It sends calls to a destination based on the nearby wireless tower it used to connect. It’s important for 988 Lifeline calls to be sent to centers nearby because trained crisis counselors recommend local mental health services and, when needed, get law enforcement intervention.

At the press conference, the lawmakers announced that the Federal Communications Commission was taking the first step toward requiring wireless carriers implement a geo-routing solution.

“Because for a young student who may be away at college and in crisis, for a parent who may be across country at work — asking for a friend — or a loved one who may have moved to a new city but still has their phone with an old area code,” Padilla, D-Calif., told reporters in March, “a few seconds and being connected to local responders, local service providers, can make not just a big difference, but can mean the difference between life and death.”

I didn’t realize that 988 calls weren’t geo-routed already, and probably many others didn’t either. I know people who have called the 988 Lifeline and thought about how, if they had needed in-person intervention, the area code of their phone number could have made it more difficult to quickly connect them with appropriate resources.

Over the next month, I spoke with people in this space and kept my eyes on the FCC schedule to see when commissioners were slated to vote on adopting the federal rulemaking process for a geo-routing solution, which they did in late April.

After the press conference, I spoke with a leader from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which advocates for mental wellbeing and has long pressed for a geo-routing solution. The organization’s leaders later connected me with the California mother whose story evokes why 988 calls should be geo-routed.

Later, I spoke with leaders at Kings View, the mental health care company which operates the Fresno-based 988 call center, about their work and the issue of calls sometimes coming from thousands of miles away. They kindly let our fantastic photojournalist, Eric Paul Zamora, photograph their center.

This is a sensitive and important topic, which is why I tried to report with heightened empathy and patience.

It’s important to highlight helpful tools like the 988 Lifeline, and shed light on how to improve them. I hope you read the story.

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers free, anonymous help to anyone in crisis and their loved ones. Access the 24-hour hotline by calling or texting 988. A live chat is available at 988lifeline.org. WellSpace Health, which operates the universal service in the capital region, can also be reached at 916-368-3111 or by texting HOPE to 916-668-4226.

FONDA-GATE CONTINUES

Who doesn’t love a sequel?

Earlier this week, we reported on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors vote to declare April 30 “Jane Fonda Day” in perpetuity.

That move prompted a pair of Republican lawmakers, Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Huntington Beach, and Assemblyman Tri Ta, R-Westminster, to call out the board, pointing out that April 30 is the anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and that using that day to honor Fonda, of all people, was rubbing salt in the wound.

In the early ‘70s, Fonda infamously flew to North Vietnam, as the Vietnam War was raging on, and spoke out against the ongoing U.S. involvement in that conflict. After this, detractors would call her “Hanoi Jane.”

The board isn’t budging.

Board spokeswoman Constance Farrell referred The Bee’s inquiry to an April 30 statement released by Board Chair Lindsey Horvath. Farrell said that Fonda was honored as part of Earth Month for her climate activism, and that the fourth meeting of the month is when presentations are held.

“Jane Fonda’s activism knows no bounds. Where Jane focuses her passion and heart, great things happen,” Horvath said in the statement.

For her part, Fonda said in a statement that she was honored to be honored.

”My message today is — when you go into the ballot box have climate in your heart. Most Americans are very concerned about what is happening, but they don’t necessarily bring it into the voting booth with them. This is an existential year. How we vote all the way down ballot is going to matter for whether young people have a livable future,” she said.

But the lawmakers aren’t deterred.

On Monday, Ta sent a letter to Horvath signed by 17 Assembly Republicans (Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, R-Escondido, was the only Republican not to sign) and one Assembly Democrat — Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove.

“We cannot fathom why the Board of Supervisors would choose this particular day to celebrate Jane Fonda. The pain and hurt caused by this decision will surely cause long-term damage to the Vietnamese refugee community,” the letter reads in part.

The letter once again demands that the board rescind its decision.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“As I reflect on California’s history, which is checkered with great wrongs to Native Americans, I cannot help but recognize the resilience of the state’s first stewards. We must never forget that past, and we begin by acknowledging those to whom the land was entrusted from Time Immemorial.”

- Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, in a statement acknowledging that the Capital region sits on Miwok and Nisenan tribal land.

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• Student protesters want California State University leaders to divest from Israel. Will they? Via Jenavieve Hatch and Stephen Hobbs.

• Comment praising Hitler in Sacramento class prompts debate after high school paper prints it, via Ariane Lange.

• Pro-Palestine protesters erect encampment at UC Davis amid nationwide protests over war, via Ishani Desai and Chris Biderman.

• Judge rules that Sacramento DA must revise allegations for court to consider homeless lawsuit, via Darrell Smith.

• Ex-Sacramento inspector general tapped to review attack on pro-Palestine protesters at UCLA, via Ishani Desai.

• What will happen to interest rates on your savings this year as the Fed fights inflation? Via David Lightman.