988 Suicide Crisis Lifeline Gets 911 Tech

Technology used to help first responders respond to 911 calls more effectively will now support South Carolina’s 988 call center. Technology company RapidDeploy has announced that it is partnering with Mental Health America in Greenville County as a new statewide 988 solution. In July 2022, the federal government designated 988 as the 3-digit number for the National Mental Health Crisis and Suicide Prevention Service. As 988 calls continue to grow, RapidDeploy hopes their Radius Mapping technology will help call centers better communicate with people facing mental health emergencies. In a statement, RapidDeploy said: “Radius Mapping will be used in South Carolina to address some of the current 988 challenges related to routing, communications and resource location. 988 callers will need to speak to someone nearby in their local language and, if needed, also 988 centers need to know the resources available to help with text messages. RapidDeploy supports them in all of this and more.” Calls to 988 Lifeline are currently routed to their nearest center based on area code. RapidDeploy co-founder and CEO Steven Raucher said his technology will help solve problems associated with this routing system. “If you’re on a Virginia number and you happen to be in a crisis in California, your call will be forwarded to Virginia. So if you’re looking for help, there’s a problem,” Raucher said. “So the idea of ​​having the context of their location and having all the data preloaded with the national plan is where we go in and create a national solution to help understand the context of where the caller is and what direct help is available.” According to RapidDeploy’s The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office has been using their radius mapping technology for years. The technology provides caller location data, supplemental data for improved situational awareness, and other data and capabilities to help communicate workflow and response, they said. RapidDeploy said South Carolina is now the first state to adopt the technology for 988. “Technology is as good as a partner,” Raucher said. “We started selling software in the U.S. in late 2018, and the early adopter community—whether it was 911 or now 988—changed the course of results by partnering with cutting-edge tech companies like me, like RapidDeploy.” RapidDeploy has now Deployed statewide to 9 state and hundreds of local 911 centers across the country.

Technology used to help emergency responders respond to 911 calls more effectively will now support South Carolina’s 988 call center.

Technology company RapidDeploy has announced it will be partnering with Mental Health America in Greenville County as a new statewide 988 solution.

In July 2022, the federal government designated 988 as the 3-digit number for the National Mental Health Crisis and Suicide Prevention Service. As 988 calls continue to grow, RapidDeploy hopes their Radius Mapping technology will help call centers better communicate with people facing mental health emergencies.

RapidDeploy said in a statement, “Radius Mapping will be used in South Carolina to address some of the current 988-related challenges related to routing, communications, and resource location. 988 callers need to speak to people nearby in their local language, and if Needed, and via text, the 988 Center needs to know what resources are available to help. RapidDeploy supports them in all of these efforts and more.”

Currently, calls to 988 Lifeline are routed to the nearest center based on area code. RapidDeploy co-founder and CEO Steven Raucher said his technology will help solve problems associated with this routing system.

“If you’re on a Virginia number and you happen to be in a crisis in California, your call will be forwarded to Virginia. So if you’re looking for help, there’s a problem,” Raucher said. “So the idea of ​​having the context of their location and having all the data preloaded with the national program is where we come in and create a national solution to help understand the context of where the caller is and what direct help is available.”

According to RapidDeploy, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office has been using their radius mapping technology for years. The technology provides caller location data, supplemental data for improved situational awareness, and other data and capabilities to help communicate workflow and response, they said.

RapidDeploy said South Carolina is now the first state to adopt the technology for 988.

“Technology is as good as a partner,” Raucher said. “We started selling software in the U.S. in late 2018, and the early adopter community—whether it was 911 or now 988—changed the course of results by partnering with cutting-edge tech companies like me, like RapidDeploy.”

RapidDeploy is currently deployed statewide at hundreds of local 911 centers in nine states and across the country.

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