Let's say you're an immigrant from Detroit living in Los Angeles and your house just goes up in flames.

Like many new Angelenos, you never bothered to ditch your old area code. But when you dial 911 from your cell phone, the call connects to a dispatcher in Los Angeles. Thankfully, I won't be going to Detroit.

The same cannot be said for the National Mental Health Crisis Hotline 988. Callers experiencing suicidal thoughts or substance abuse crises will be directed to a call center based on their area code.

Depending on the caller, this may not be an issue. There's a good chance that a trained counselor sitting in a call room in Detroit can offer the same words of comfort and support as a counselor based in Los Angeles.

However, in Los Angeles County, experts do more than just talk. We can also connect callers with a team of mental health professionals who can meet with you in person.

Only when calling from a phone number that includes an area code. If not, you're probably out of luck.

As a result, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health is holding off on moving forward with the 988 line, out of concern that a significant number of Angelenos will lose access to county services, officials said. According to caller data, about 15% of county residents who call 988 may be routed elsewhere because of their area code.

County officials say this is a thorny problem that requires a clear solution. They say the federal government should pass a law requiring the Federal Communications Commission to route calls based on the nearest call center rather than area code.

On Tuesday, county supervisors voted to: send a letter Support bill introduced last month A proposal by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R.N.C.) would force the FCC to route calls to the nearest call center.

“We did all this work and then we left. Wait a minute,” said Superintendent Janice Hahn, advocating for the legal fix during a meeting in Washington, D.C. [or] In the event of an outage, the call will be routed to Minneapolis. ”

Technically, out-of-town call centers can route callers to Los Angeles County. But local officials believe many call centers would not consider doing so because they are unaware of the in-person services offered by the county. Proponents argue that valuable time is wasted when calls are diverted.

Hahn said the letter was meant to send a signal to Washington's county legislative team to begin lobbying “walking the halls of Congress” for federal fixes that are especially urgent in transplant areas. said.

Padilla said he believes a bill to fix the issue could easily pass with bipartisan support.

“That's easy,” he said.

Los Angeles County deployed the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the summer of 2022. at that time, local politician The three-digit number was created to help callers in crisis avoid police response and potentially fatal confrontations. Instead, callers are connected to a professional who can talk about their mental health crisis and get direct help if needed.

A Department of Mental Health spokesperson said the county currently has 47 full-time teams, and as of December they were deployed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A spokesperson said the team responds to 1,200 to 1,500 calls a month.

times investigation The rollout proved rocky in April, with politicians failing to deliver on many of the early promises of what 988 could do for voters in crisis. Latency spiked as mobile teams typically take an hour or more to respond. Roughly half the time, it took him more than five hours for the team to respond.

Nine months later, Traute Winters, executive director of the L.A. County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said she no longer hears about long wait times. In fact, she said the issue of misdirections has become one of the biggest problems.

“I'm happy with the progress,” she said of the hotline. “But it's still a work in progress.”

Winters said the problem goes beyond new Angelenos who can't reach county hotline officials. Former LA residents who have left LA may also not be well served by call centers.

Rachel Stankas, a shift supervisor who takes 988 calls that are routed to Los Angeles County, said she once had an out-of-town caller who had overdosed and was trying to take more prescription drugs. His Los Angeles area code meant he was in charge of her. Even though she didn't know where he was calling from.

“We lost valuable time trying to locate him,” she said. “When a caller is in crisis, every moment counts.”

dial 988 Transfers callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, accessible nationwide