(Radio Iowa) – This week marks the second anniversary of the launch of 9-8-8, the national hotline for mental health emergencies. A report by the mental health advocacy organization Inseparable finds 87-percent of Iowa’s calls are being answered by in-state call centers, which is near the 90-percent goal. Emily Blomme is the C-E-O of Foundation 2 Crisis Services in Cedar Rapids, which operates one of Iowa’s two call centers. She says the turnover rate is almost at 50 percent. “Some of that is people who think that they can do the work or think they want to do the work, and they get into it and they don’t want to do the work, or it’s too hard,” Blomme says, “or they have their own lived experience and activates them in a way that they just weren’t anticipating.”

Blomme says the biggest challenge remains finding and retaining staff, and she adds, the worker shortage strains the entire call center. “So our people who are willing to take extra shifts, who are willing to work overtime, we love that,” she says, “but we also don’t want to burn them out, so then they can’t do the work.” Blomme says she’s had to increase pay and benefits in order to try to attract more staff members.

(by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)