Empowered consumers and telephone hotlines

Today health-care budgets are rapidly being cut and services streamlined. Volunteers and nonprofit agencies have been commissioned to take on part of the burden. Currently they are expanding and reorganizing their services to meet the new demand. Telephone crisis lines, in particular, have the potential to take on a large share of consumer needs--they are always available and turn no one away. Unfortunately, crisis lines have their own set of problems. Although the bulk of work is performed by volunteers and represents a minimum of expense, the clientele is varied, the workload unpredictable. Staff at the line need to balance the needs of their regular callers with crisis calls and their volunteer needs by establishing comprehensive policies. This article looks at just a few of the challenges these lines face, and attempts to analyze the options, keeping the rights of modern consumers in mind.