Three Little Numbers: A telecommunications lifeline for suicide prevention.

• Date: 01 August 2022
• Author: Rhode, Scott

Three little numbers can be a hassle when a phone call requires dialing ten digits instead of seven. Three tittle numbers can be a boon, when even a toddler can remember 911 in case a parent or guardian has a medical emergency. And now three little numbers can save the life of someone in despair-perhaps nearly twice as many as before.

Those three numbers are 988, which as of July 16 is the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In an emergency, those three digits are less cumbersome and more memorable than the old number, 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).

Those three digits are also the reason that Alaskans must dial 907 even for local calls. That switch occurred last October as part of the Federal Communications Commission's phase-in timeline.

"We recognize that this is a change in behavior," says GCI Chief Communications Officer Heather Handyside. "We gave Alaskans what we hope was plenty of time to get used to the idea."

The activation of 988 is not the direct cause of ten-digit dialing in Alaska, but ten-digit dialing solves a problem. In Wrangell, 988 is the prefix for some ACS Wireless customers' local phone numbers. "In those areas, if you dial 988 and then you pause for a second or something, you get routed to the national suicide hotline," says Tim Stelzig, GCI's senior counsel, federal affairs.

Dialing 907 for all local numbers, including the 988 exchange in Wrangell, avoids accidental calls to the hotline. Stelzig notes that the 988 prefix could've been eliminated and those customers assigned new numbers, but it was time to introduce ten-digit dialing regardless.

"Many other states already use ten-digit dialing," he explains. "We eventually would've anyway, honestly, so it was an inevitability, but this is a catalyst."

'Alaskans, more than most folks across the nation, can understand how important that is," Handyside adds, "so the minor inconvenience has been outweighed by the benefits. Alaskans get that."

Point of Contact

Although 988 directs calls to the national lifeline, the national lifeline redirects calls from the 907 area code back to Alaska. Four operators on duty at Careline Alaska in Fairbanks pick up, on average, two to three calls every hour of every day.

"Some shifts go by and are relatively calm," says Director Susanna Marchuk. "Some shifts go by and you wonder, 'What's in the water today?'"

Marchuk has been in the trenches herself, one of the Careline's first paid staff when she started in 2005. A teenager at the time, the...