Lincoln County Emergency Public Information Call Center is answering the public’s questions and keeping mental health in check with trained volunteers to take pressure off of essential services.
Homepage staff called the Lincoln County Emergency Call Center at 541-265-0621 Tuesday morning to see why people would call and what questions they could ask. A trained volunteer answered the phone and gave us the skinny on what questions they were fielding, what callers could expect to learn and why the call center is necessary.
“If I can be a calm in the storm for somebody, then that makes it worthwhile,” a call center volunteer said. The man said he was a therapist in Lincoln County and is donating his services –three days a week — to help people through these difficult times.
Our therapist told us people can ask all kinds of questions, including, mental health, where to get food, symptoms and concerns of COVID-19 and even why vacation rentals are still renting.
“Any and all questions will be answered.”
PUBLIC INFORMATION CALL CENTER
The call center has been established to take pressure off other agencies in emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Freeing up phone lines of essential services by taking the public’s questions is part of why the call center exists.
From the Lincoln County website:
The Lincoln County Emergency Public Information Call Center was implemented in 2018 to provide critical information resources to community members impacted by disaster or large community emergency response. The Call Center, when activated, is staffed by local public safety volunteers under the direction of the County Emergency Operations Center and lead County Public Information Officer.
The center is staffed with Lincoln County professional volunteers from all walks of life, including nurses, behavioral health professionals and law enforcement personnel.
An extensive bank of links is available to call center staff, allowing them to handle most calls and they also have the ability to research information and call people back. In some cases they will rout calls to the appropriate staff.
Mental health has become a hot topic as thousands of Lincoln City residents shelter at home in a concerted effort to slow the virus spread. The call center is ready to take calls from the public about anything they want to talk about.
“We’re here to answer all your questions,” another call center volunteer said. “We can all get through this together.”
The call center is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 1 p.m and can also be reached by email: [email protected]
The Lincoln County Emergency Public Information Call Center was implemented in 2018 to provide critical information resources to community members impacted by disaster or large community emergency response. The Call Center, when activated, is staffed by local public safety volunteers under the direction of the County Emergency Operations Center and lead County Public Information Officer.
Thank you. We living in the rural county, sometimes without transportation or any information can utilize this service to perhaps save our own life or that of a neighbor. I had no idea where to call before now and it was very frightening. Please send this information on to your friends and neighbors.