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ACA Text Navigator: Awareness, Outreach, Enrollment
Sample outreach uses automated triage (zip code) to route individuals to their closest "Navigator".
Helping 2-1-1 Contact Centers Engage, Educate and Enroll Millennials Using the Communication channel they know and use every day - SMS.
PreventionPays text and the 898211 suite of services will now be available to all Idaho residents. Idaho Careline acquired funding through Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for three years of sms services via the PreventionPays 898211 platform.
Idaho joins several other states on the platform. 898211 is quickly becoming a recognizable brand related to getting help through 211. When residents from Idaho text their 5 digit zip code to 898211, they will be routed to a resource specialist for live 2-way sms support at Idaho Careline. If you text 898211 and you are outside one of the service areas now covered by 898211 and you wish to have this service in your community, you should contact your 211 office and request it.
898211 I&R has been a very popular method for contacting 211. But I&R is not the only service 898211 is becoming known for. Over the past year, 898211 has been used for outgoing alerts to help homeless families find shelters during the recent cold weather that spread across the county, alerts to promote family nutrition, alerts for health services/resources related to the ACA, alerts to help build awareness about the risks of binge drinking on college campuses, tailored educational texts to promote breastfeeding among low income moms and so, so much more.
We are delighted Idaho Careline selected PreventionPays text for their sms communication needs!
898211 is a fully provisioned Tier 1 short code with all mobile carriers in North America. 898211 or TXT211 is specifically designed for I&R services and health & safety alerts to communities. 898211 is the only short code in the US provisioned for texting specific to 211 services.
We've received several requests for another webinar on Texting and WIC moms. The service provides secure texting for WIC agencies and is now used in several states for educational texts and two-way conversational texting. Pre-register now by going here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/2726525326567937026
Participants will learn how texting is being used by WICs to promote breastfeeding education among GenY moms
They will also learn how WICs are communicating with their caseload using 2-way conversational texting
They will also learn new innovative strategies being used by WICs to reschedule missed appts
The WIC Text Program also supports best practice appointment reminders and compliance (upload your excel, WIX, ISIS, WRI, txt, csv) select the message and the system handles the rest! Most importantly, you'll be able to track the reminders to confirm all phones received the message! And completely unique to PreventionPays, you'll see responses to the reminders appear in the text inbox. So, if mom needs to reschedule you can do so in a quick text dialogue!)
Additionally, you can promote the secure number (a fully provisioned short code that guarantees coverage across all mobile carriers in the US) in your community to encourage WIC eligible moms to text for more information. Set up automated messages to provide links to online enrollment! Texting is helping WICs increase enrollments and maintain caseload retention by educating moms about changes in the benefits so that they use the service for the entire period of eligibility!
WICs using the text program are reporting remarkable results:
96% of participants respond favorably to getting their education through text
98% of participants respond to direct messages from WIC staff
95% of participants choose to breastfeed after receiving education
"We started using the text program to follow up with missed appointments. The response has been tremendous. This has been a game changer for us." WIC Director, CA
“This is really good news for the state,” commented David Lee, who testified before the Senate Finance Committee on behalf of the bill.
Lee said thanks to the newly approved state funding, the program will now be expanded to reach students in high schools, colleges and universities throughout Minnesota by adding regional coordinators, trained text responders and additional support staff. He added the National Guard is also interested in possibly making the program available to its military and civilian population, particularly in the 18- to 24-year-old age bracket, since suicide is a problem in their ranks as well.
“Right now, we are still in the midst of talks with them,” said Lee, but he said the relationship would be a logical extension of the up-and-coming program.
Lee said the rapid success of the TXT4Life program in Minnesota is already the envy of other states that have spent several years trying to get similar programs established. He said he owes the success of the recent state legislation to the outstanding coalition supporting it, including the Minnesota School Counselors Association, mental health centers throughout the state, faith communities, non-profit organizations and the state-wide tribal association. He said State Senator Tony Lourey helped co-author the bill and added that District 11A Representative Mike Sundin was instrumental in securing bipartisan support for it.
“This is one of the biggest expansions of suicide prevention funding anywhere,” he commented. Essentially, the program picks up where suicide crisis phone lines leave off — meeting young people right where they’re at when it comes to today’s electronic communication. The reasoning is simple — teens who would never consider calling the existing suicide crisis line to speak to someone in person are far more likely to seek help via the comparative ease and anonymity of text messaging. When they text in, they are linked to a trained support person who helps talk them through that critical 10-minute window considered to be vital in saving lives and providing needed support.
The TXT4Life program was initially spearheaded by Carlton County Health and Human Services and piloted in the seven-county area of northeastern Minnesota. It was funded through a $1.4 million federal grant secured in August 2011. Since that time, Lee said it has been expanding rapidly. He reported that an average of the some 300-350 texts a month have been received from teens either considering suicide or having a hard time dealing with other relationship or family issues. Over 800 referrals have been made for mental health or non-mental health services over the course of the past year through the TXT4Life program, and that number is growing.
Although the initial emphasis of the program has been focused in northeast Minnesota, Lee said word of it has spread through social media and the line has received texts from youth and young adults in 48 of Minnesota’s 87 counties.
Commissioners congratulated Lee on the success of the statewide initiative and thanked him for the role he played in it, along with that of Representative Sundin, who was also in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting.
Check them out here: http://txt4life.org/
We are very pleased to announce that Boys Town Hotline will launch their national text hotline in January and the PreventionPays platform was chosen (over all other services and providers) as the platform through which they will launch the new resource!
Make sure you visit the Boys Town Website here!
The resource will function as a youth helpline in which youth and their parents and/or caregivers can text/chat with a trained counselor about their crisis and get info about resources and help in their community that assist youth in crisis. Live assistance will be provided by helpline counselors (specially trained in youth-focused help) from computer workstations at Boys Town Hotline in Boys Town, Nebraska, USA. Information such as where to go if they are being abused or if they need emergency food, clothing or shelter will be communicated to youth in need.
The Boys Town text hotline is a community service and will be available to all US residents. The service will be promoted through Boys Town's robust network of affilate agencies, partners and stakeholders with PSAs, signage and handouts (flyers, brochures) through charities that are youth-focused, e.g Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, YMCAs, hostels and youth shelters, youth crisis lines and helplines, and public spaces including libraries, hospitals, and schools. In part, this service is being developed to increase access to public resources among rural populations and disadvantaged youth that may not have access to a computer or the Internet.
The text helpline will augment Boys Town's standard phone-based helpline services that have been operational for the past 50 years.
Do you have a story about texting? Let us know! Contact us and we will post your experience on our blog! In the same way we develop PreventionPays Text (Wiki environment that supports recommendations, prioritizing and deployment) the blog supports feedback from non-profits facing new and exciting communication challenges. Our blog is a destination for health and human service agencies where they learn from their peers about best practice strategies in texting and public health. Most importantly, they can trust that the information represents the most current statistics, capacity and strategies in the industry.
