美国国家公共电台 NPR--The national 988 hotline is up and running but local centers need workers, funding

The national 988 hotline is up and running but local centers need workers, funding

Transcript¹

A look inside two of Pennsylvania's 13 centers taking calls for 988, the new national suicide prevention hotline. Centers across the U.S. need more money and staffers for the increase in calls.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For people in crisis, calling 988 can be a lifesaving decision. As of this summer, the new three-digit suicide and crisis lifeline offers a single gateway² to hundreds of call centers around the U.S. Brett Sholtis at member station WITF visited two call centers in Pennsylvania and brings us this story.

BRETT SHOLTIS, BYLINE³: It's Friday evening, and this suburban⁴ office outside Philadelphia is still open. Unused headsets are scattered⁵ among empty cubicles⁶. But Michael Colluccio is working tonight. He turns on his computer, puts on his own headset, stirs his hot tea one more time, and his screen shows incoming 988 calls from all around Pennsylvania.

MICHAEL COLLUCCIO: So I had a suicide attempt when I was about 10, 11 years old. And we do get callers who are about that age or quite young, and they're going through similar stressors.

SHOLTIS: Pluto⁷ goes by Tom when answering the phone. A lot of call center workers use pseudonyms⁸ like this - keeps work life separate from private life.

COLLUCCIO: Suicide Prevention Lifeline. This is Tom speaking.

SHOLTIS: It's a woman. She starts off kind of panicked. And she's not calling about herself. Her partner is using drugs and has started making violent threats.

COLLUCCIO: Do you know if there's been a change that precipitated⁹ the threats and the change of behavior? It sounds like there's been a health care change.

SHOLTIS: Colluccio doesn't really commiserate¹⁰ with her as much as you might think. He says listening is the work. For the caller, it offers relief, validation¹¹, human connection. He also asks questions, gently searching for specific ways to help.

COLLUCCIO: Would you want a number for a local domestic abuse prevention service?

SHOLTIS: One number he rarely calls is 911. The idea behind 988 is that it's an alternative to involving police or an ambulance for a mental health crisis. At the end of every call, Colluccio asks a few key questions to determine whether the person feels suicidal.

COLLUCCIO: Upon calling here, were you thinking about ending your life, considering suicide at all?

SHOLTIS: What happens next is surprisingly common. At the start of this call, it seemed like the woman wanted help for her partner, but when he asks her directly, on a scale of 1 to 5, how suicidal she is, she says she's a two or maybe a three, and she's attempted suicide before.

COLLUCCIO: You don't have to discuss the past attempts in detail if you prefer not to. Do you mind if I ask when the last attempt was and how?

SHOLTIS: Before they end the call, Colluccio asks her if she would like a call back tomorrow. She says yes, so he schedules one. And he has just about enough time for a sip¹² of tea when another call comes in. It's a young man in college. He's overwhelmed by stress, unable to eat, says he feels like a failure.

COLLUCCIO: I don't consider you a failure. You seem to be working hard. You seem to have lofty goals.

SHOLTIS: Colluccio spends over an hour with the young man - again, mostly just letting him talk. Afterwards, he says this is a pretty typical evening.

COLLUCCIO: Sometimes it's more of an immediate¹³ intervention¹⁴ because sometimes people call with pills in hand and are actively¹⁵ considering ending their lives. There are people who have called and said, if you did not pick up, I'd have killed myself.

SHOLTIS: He says that's why having a national network of call centers works so well. There are more than 200 places like this one across the country. Calls are tied to area codes, so if nobody picks up locally, the call gets kicked to somewhere else. The promise is to always have someone pick up the phone. And Colluccio has options. He can even dispatch a mobile crew of mental health workers to go to someone's house. But it's not that way everywhere. In Hanover, a small town a few hours west, the 988 call center doesn't have that option. Here, call center workers sometimes have to put down their headsets and go meet with people themselves.

JAYNE WILDASIN: So right now, you know, if there's a crisis at somebody's house, we could potentially go there.

SHOLTIS: Jayne Wildasin runs the center and has been trying to ramp¹⁶ up hiring to deal with more 988 calls.

WILDASIN: We have seven full-time¹⁷ staff instead of 14, and we're still maintaining 24/7 coverage¹⁸.

SHOLTIS: For decades, call centers had to scrape together funding from local, state and federal resources. Now with the big switch to 988 these centers have to take on more responsibility while funding remains¹⁹ uneven²⁰ and unpredictable. There are some federal grants, but the expectation is that states will come up with the main funding streams, and like many other states, Pennsylvania hasn't done that yet. This concerns Kevin Boozel, who represents county commissioners²¹ across the state.

KEVIN BOOZEL: This is life or death, and you can't halfway²² do it.

SHOLTIS: Pennsylvania has actually decided²³ to hold back on publicizing the new 988 number until next year. The fear is that too many calls could flood the system, and counties need more time to set up funding, hire workers and build capacity for things like those mobile crisis teams. Those challenges aside, Wildasin says the hotline works. In most cases, just talking with someone is enough to defuse a crisis.

WILDASIN: I can't tell you how many times I have, you know, sat with somebody and said, are you thinking about suicide? And they're like, whew, I'm so glad you asked because nobody has asked me that.

SHOLTIS: She emphasizes that anyone can call 988. It's anonymous²⁴, safe, free, and someone will be there ready to listen.

For NPR News, I'm Brett Sholtis in Bucks²⁵ County, Pa.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRUNO PERNADAS' "WALTZ")

MARTIN: This story comes from NPR's partnership²⁶ with WITF and Kaiser Health News. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRUNO PERNADAS' "WALTZ")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

5 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

6 cubicles   

n.小卧室，斗室( cubicle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Security guards, operating inside bullet-proof glass cubicles, and speaking through microphones, scrutinized every arrival and departure. 警卫们在装有防弹玻璃的小室里值勤，通过麦克风细致盘问每一个进出的人。 来自辞典例句
• I guess they thought me content to stay in cubicles. 我猜他们认为我愿意呆在小房间里。 来自互联网

7 Pluto   

n.冥王星

参考例句：

• Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。

8 pseudonyms   

n.假名，化名，（尤指）笔名( pseudonym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• But on newspaper websites, pseudonyms are allowed and are widely used. 但在报纸的网站上，读者可用假名评论且普遍会这么做。 来自互联网
• All materials should bear the writer's name, address and phone number andbe published under pseudonyms. 文章可用笔名发表，惟投稿者须附真实姓名、地址及联络电话。 来自互联网

9 precipitated   

v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀

参考例句：

• His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis. 他的辞职立即引发了领导层的危机。
• He lost his footing and was precipitated to the ground. 他失足摔倒在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 commiserate   

v.怜悯，同情

参考例句：

• When I lost,he commiserated with me.我落败的时候，他向我表示同情。
• I commiserated with her on the loss of her job.她失去了工作，我很同情她。

11 validation   

n.确认

参考例句：

• If the countdown timer ever hits zero, do your validation processing. 处理这种情况的方法是在输入的同时使用递减计时器，每次击键重新计时。如果递减计时器变为零，就开始验证。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Although the validation control is a very widespread idiom, most such controls can be improved. 虽然确认控件是非常广泛的习惯用法，但还有很多有待改进的地方。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

13 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

14 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

15 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

16 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

17 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

18 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

20 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

21 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

22 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

23 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

24 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

25 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。