Know When To Call 911 Or 988 For Urgent Help

We are blessed to have people we can call on when we have an emergency. Most people have an appreciation for those who work in law enforcement, fire departments, or emergency services that respond to us in times of need. 

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We know that these folks are just three digits away on our phone, and those numbers are 9-1-1.  

This week the Minnesota Department of Safety had an interesting tweet on “X” that I thought was worth highlighting. That post pertained to what calls fall under the guidelines for a call to 9-1-1. The post compared those guidelines to what is an appropriate call to 9-8-8. 

If you’re not familiar with 9-8-8, it was established in 2022 for people who need mental health support. This hotline was set up for people who are having suicidal thoughts, need emotional support, or who are having mental health or substance abuse concerns.

These are very important issues that need to be addressed, but the point of the post by the Department of Public Safety was twofold. First, get the help you need quicker by calling 9-8-8, and secondly calling 9-1-1 for something that will need to be transferred to another outlet that takes up space on the 9-1-1 line.  

Calls to 9-1-1 should fall into the categories of: 

• Life Threatening Situations 

• Property Crimes 

• Crimes in Progress 

• Medical or Fire Emergencies 

• Disaster Response 

And if you have the type of emergencies that qualify for a call to 9-1-1, don’t hesitate to call them either.