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Tulsa, Oklahoma is a caring community with many helpful resources, but finding the
most-appropriate one can often be confusing and time-consuming. Simplify your search
by calling these free, specialized telephone services ... sponsored by the Community
Service Council.
2-1-1 Helpline -
cell phone users, dial 836-4357
Get Connected, Get Answers, Get Help
- For everyone - a comprehensive telephone
information and referral service
-
The Tulsa-based 2-1-1 Helpline now serves
twelve Oklahoma
counties: Adair, Cherokee, Creek, McIntosh, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee,
Osage, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa, and Wagoner.
- Problem solving, information,
and referral
- Uses computerized database listing thousands of services provided by hundreds of
non-profit health and human service organizations
- Personalized assistance ... free & confidential
- Available to those speaking English, Spanish, and other languages
- Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week
Online:
www.211tulsa.com -- resource directory available online
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A person seeking assistance from the Tulsa area health and
human service system must select from over 450 organizations that provide more
than 2,600 different service programs.* Having informed, timely and efficient
access to these services is crucial to using them successfully. Success may be
determined by the knowledge that consumers possess about eligibility criteria,
hours of operation, fee structures and new programs. Up-to-date information has
become more important as nation-wide unemployment, welfare reform, rising
utility costs, and other policy shifts cause changes in the way clients locate
necessary services, such as health care, housing, and public assistance and
financial aid.
Helpline, through its Monday-Saturday telephone call center information
products, provides the community with a comprehensive, high quality method for
maintaining and disseminating information about the full range of services
available in the Tulsa Metropolitan area, including financial aid, counseling,
health care, family and youth development, mental health care, consumer
advocacy, and much more. *Source: Helpline’s computerized database
Helpline increases access to human services in Tulsa and the surrounding area
through operation of a call center Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-6:00 PM and Saturday,
9:00 AM-5:00 PM. The Helpline call center uses software specific to the
Information and Referral profession to capture data from callers about their
location, gender, income, and needs, as well as subjective information.
Call center staff link more than 29,000 callers per year with
helping services by providing telephone information, referral, problem solving
and crisis intervention. Complete follow-up services are provided to 8% or more
callers.
Telephone call center services are provided free to the public. Most Helpline
calls come from low to moderate income families seeking financial assistance
(41%), health care (15%), food & shelter (11%), and community mental health care
(6%). Many callers (19%) seek information about the availability of new and
seasonal programs or telephone numbers, addresses and hours. Information calls
come from both helping professionals and clients.
In 2003 the Helpline telephone call center processed 29,301 incoming calls (a 9%
increase over 2002 incoming calls), 5,655 collateral calls to secure immediate
help for consumers, and over 6,167 website inquiries. Total Call Center
Contacts: 41,123.
Helpline functions as the consumer call center for National
Anxiety Screening Day, in collaboration with the Mental Health Association in
Tulsa.
Now available online:
Helplines
newsletter (sample issue: email
to request a free subscription).
Plans are now under way for development of
2-1-1 Tulsa Helpline -- read
more.
Information Services
CSC/Helpline Information Services provide helping
professionals, community volunteers, and consumers with comprehensive and
accurate information that enhances their ability to use human service
organizations. Services provided include maintaining an extensive human services
database for Northeastern Oklahoma, updating and editing Helpline Information
Services products, and participation in community efforts to disseminate social
services information.
Helping professionals, agencies, community volunteers, and
employers benefit – Helpline produces unique Tulsa products designed for and
used heavily by case managers, family therapists, school counselors, clergy,
police officers, and human resource staff/employers.
- 100 copies of The 2003 Directory of Community & Agency Services were
sold to 58 different organizations and individuals during 2003
- In late 2003, a new style of directory, the 2004 Tulsa Area Basic
Services Directory, was designed and published; 147 copies were sold to 44
organizations and individuals ($25 per copy)
- The Directory On Disk was sold to 22 different organizations ($50 per
set)
- Helpline worked with community agencies to develop a more concise
directory, with a keyword index, The Tulsa Area Basic Services Directory
- Where to Go For Help mini-directories for consumers of basic needs
services were distributed to over 300 agencies and congregations serving
low-income Tulsans (free to all)
- Helpline collected human service information for 11 counties surrounding
Tulsa, as well as Tulsa County
- The Helpline Tulsa website received over 6,100 inquiries in 2003 from
agency workers, clergy, and individuals seeking social services information via
the Internet
In 2003, Helpline continued to facilitate a real-time internet
client database for the purpose of assuring non-duplication by agencies in the
disbursement of FEMA funds to assist clients with utility bills, rent, and
mortgage payments. Helpline was funded by
the Tulsa Area United Way to facilitate a client data-sharing project among
Tulsa Area United Way agencies authorized to receive and distribute FEMA funds
to clients for financial assistance with utility bills, rent and mortgage
assistance. There is a mandate from FEMA that these services may not be
duplicated by any member agency. Through a new sharable database for the
Internet, participating agencies can now verify which clients have received
funds for which assistance program, and update information about their
agency’s interaction with clients. For more information about this project, please contact Shirley Kirzner, 918 /
838-0698. Partners in the FEMA project, please
follow
this link to log on.
CSC's specialized
information and referral services:
Babyline
-
918 / 838-0694
- For pregnant women - help finding affordable
PRENATAL
CARE
- A telephone information & referral service
- Personalized assistance ... free & confidential
- Hablamos Espanol
- Hours: 9 - 3 on Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri; 9 - 5 on Tuesday
Planline
-
918 / 838-0697
- For women - help finding affordable
BIRTH
CONTROL and other family planning services
- A telephone information & referral service
- Personalized assistance ... free & confidential
- Hablamos Espanol
- Hours: 9 - 3 on Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri; 9 - 5 on Tuesday
Kidsline -
918 / 583-5437 (583-KIDS)
- For families - help in arranging for
immunizations and medical care for children from birth
through age 18, and enrollment in Sooner Care (health insurance)
- A telephone information & referral service
- Personalized assistance ... free & confidential
- Hablamos Espanol
- Hours: 9 - 3 on Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri; 9 - 5 on Tuesday
Child Care Resource
& Referral
Service -
918 / 834-CARE
- For parents - help finding
CHILD CARE
- Early childhood specialists match parents' requests with local child care
options
- CCRC has an extensive computerized database with detailed information about
licensed care in hundreds of homes and centers, plus mothers' day out programs,
after-school care and summer programs
- Tips on how to choose high-quality care
- A telephone service ... free and confidential
- Hours: 8 - 5 on Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri; 2 - 8 on Thurs
-
For more about the Child Care Resource Center, visit their
website
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“With more being spent on health care
in this country than any other nation, no one would ever guess the United States
has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. The United States
ranks 25th in infant mortality among industrialized countries” (March of Dimes,
2001). Unfortunately, the statistics in Tulsa County are even worse than the
national averages. The infant mortality rate in Tulsa County is 29% higher than
the national rate (Tulsa Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program). Babyline
was developed in 1989 to address these problems by increasing access to prenatal
care.
Information learned through data analysis of the Babyline program indicated that
approximately 80% of the women calling for prenatal appointments reported that
they were not using any method of family planning, yet they had not wished to be
pregnant at that time. This awareness led to the formation of Planline in 1994
in order to make sliding scale family planning services available to low-income
women.
In 1998, the Children’s Defense Fund reported that 11.6 million children were
uninsured. Uninsured children are at increased health risk because their medical
needs continue to go unmet. According to a National Center for Health Statistics
report in July 1997, uninsured children are six times as likely to go without
necessary medical treatment as their privately insured counterparts. In the
absence of a medical home, when uninsured children do receive care, they are
five times as likely to use the hospital emergency room as compared to privately
insured children. According to census data from 1994-96, Oklahoma is the fourth
worst state in the nation for the percentage of children who are uninsured
(Children’s Defense Fund, 1998). Kidsline was developed in September of 1999 to
address these problems.
The centralized appointment system serves the Tulsa MSA. The centralized phone
system is available from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Babyline/Planline is a centralized telephone appointment service for prenatal,
family planning, and children’s services. Women and men call to receive the
first available appointment from providers who have allocated appointments to
the lines. A significant amount of data is gathered when a woman calls in for an
appointment; this facilitates service provision at the clinics as well as
serving as an invaluable database for the entire community. This information is
faxed to the clinic prior to the woman’s appointment and is reviewed by social
workers and other professionals to determine what services an individual woman
may need. The clinic communicates to Babyline/Planline missed and kept
appointments, which allows staff to contact those who missed appointments for
follow-up and rescheduling. With the woman’s permission, staff mail and phone
appointment reminders. Staff can make arrangements for transportation services
if available. Babyline/Planline staff facilitate women receiving the entire
spectrum of services available in the Tulsa community such as Healthy Start,
Children First, Sooner Care, outreach workers from the Health Department, WIC,
and many others.
In July 2002, the Kidsline centralized appointment system was integrated into
the Babyline/Planline system to better provide services to families with
children in our community. The centralized appointment system allows parents or
guardians to speak with a telephone specialist who inquires about the priority
need (well child services, or prenatal appointment) and additional services can
be offered to other family members. This integration of the three lines has
created a cadre of cross-trained telephone specialists accessing an integrated
database system to provide health and social service appointments for women and
children. Kidsline is a centralized contact point for information, referral for
SoonerCare enrollment, referral for ancillary support services and first
available appointment for pediatric care for the Tulsa community. Kidsline staff
fax client information to the clinic prior to the visit and receive feedback
about whether the appointment was kept. Staff contact those who missed
appointments for follow-up and rescheduling. Kidsline staff check immunization
status and eligibility for SoonerCare as well as make referrals for virtually
all types of social or human service needs presented by the caller.
Telephone specialists (including 2 bilingual Hispanic staff) are available to
take calls through the integrated centralized telephone system. Planning staff
maintain and analyze data generated from the centralized appointment system. The
information is then provided to the Systems Development Committee of the
Family Health Coalition to recommend perinatal
system adjustments.
The total number of appointments Babyline scheduled in 2003 is 4,795, a 4.1%
increase over the number of appointments (4,604) scheduled in 2002. Babyline
schedules prenatal appointments for about 44.6% of all resident births in Tulsa
County.
Planline made 1,333 family planning appointments in the year 2003. This number
is markedly down from 1,791 in 2002 due to fewer available sliding scale family
planning appointments. The number of appointments scheduled is not indicative of
the need in the community or the request for services to Planline. Appointments
for Planline can be taken in the last few days of the month for appointments in
the following month. All appointment slots are filled within 4 to 6 hours and
women calling in after that have to be told to call back at the end of the
month.
In 2003, the fourth full year of operation for the Kidsline program, Kidsline
received 467 appointment calls, an increase of 8.6%.Callers are low-income and
uninsured. 3,589 referral calls were made to SoonerCare for enrollment of
eligible children, health agencies for well child and acute appointments,
transportation, WIC and social service agencies. Greater community
awareness/marketing of the Kidsline program was an important element in that
program’s growth which will continue in 2004.
The amount of time required to process calls has increased due to the complexity
of the needs of the callers, fewer resources in the community to provide care,
and increasing unmet demand for bi-lingual services.
Kidsline/Babyline/Planline coordinates services
with the Community HealthNet, Inc., a collaboration of the safety net providers
in Tulsa including: Tulsa Health Department, University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma
State University Teaching Clinics, Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern
Oklahoma, Morton Comprehensive Health Services, Margaret Hudson Program, and
Indian Health Care Resource Center. Kidsline/Babyline/Planline is integrating
with the Internet-based case management system, ShareLink. This collaborative
effort of the community safety-net providers will improve communication among
agencies and appointment scheduling.
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These information and referral
services and publications are services of the Community
Service Council of Greater Tulsa, a United Way agency
For more
information about the Council: 918-585-5551
