PORT ANGELES — Deet, doot, doot. These three little telephone tones for 2-1-1 could be the quickest link to help for people who need human services ranging from health care to safe shelter for the night.
In about two weeks, residents of Clallam and Jefferson counties will be able to call 2-1-1 for non-emergency assistance across the North Olympic Peninsula, across the state, even across the country.
Along with Kitsap County, Clallam and Jefferson counties comprise Region 2 of the Washington Information Network headquartered in Bremerton that is now in “test mode,” said Jodi Moss, executive director of Clallam County United Way.
Moss and statewide network director Tom Page addressed the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce weekly luncheon meeting Monday.
Free, confidential and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the system will be staffed by people who know their way around the human services system, Page said.
The system, he added, includes 30,000 separate public and private agencies in Washington alone.
Heretofore, someone seeking help for an elderly parent, for instance, would have to make between six to 14 calls before finding assistance, Page said — if the person didn’t give up in frustration.
Likewise, agencies fielding the calls spend one fourth an employee’s time each year redirecting wrong numbers.
2-1-1 help
People who need help to find food, shelter, clothing or physical and mental health care soon can call 2-1-1.
So can those who need aid to pay utilities, bills or taxes, or who are searching for guidance in employment, child care or education.
The 2-1-1 network also is where people can offer help, Page said.
All of Washington will be linked together by December, meaning that someone living in Sequim who needs help for a loved one in Yakima need call only 2-1-1.
The state, in turn, will be tied into 2-1-1 networks in 28 other states — half of the geographic United States and 62 percent of its people.
By the end of 2006, cell phone users will be able to call 2-1-1 the way they now can access 9-1-1.