2 Million Calls, Messages To 988 Mental Health Helpline In First Six Months
“The call volume is, in some instances, well beyond what we anticipated,” Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use in the Department of Health and Human Services, told the AP. Also in the news: a rise in mental health telemedicine, severe strep infections among kids, possible lead exposure to kids living near airports, and more.
AP:
Callers Keep Flooding 988 Mental Health, Suicide Helpline
When Jamieson Brill answers a crisis call from a Spanish speaker on the newly launched national 988 mental health helpline, he rarely mentions the word suicide, or “suicidio.” Brill, whose family hails from Puerto Rico, knows that just discussing the term in some Spanish-speaking cultures is so frowned upon that many callers are too scared to even admit that they’re calling for themselves. (Seitz, 1710)
CIDRAP:
Mental Telehealth Use Surged As In-Person Care Dropped Amid COVID
The expansion of mental health telemedicine more than offset the drop in in-person mental health services among more than 5.1 million US adults for some diagnoses during the first year of the pandemic, finds a study published late last week in JAMA Health Forum. (Van Beusekom, 1/9)
In other public health news —
PBS NewsHour:
CDC Warns Of Rising Strep Throat Infections Among Children
The CDC is investigating a rise in severe cases of strep throat among kids in the U.S. Several children’s hospitals across the country have reported an increase in strep cases since November, including in Colorado where two children died. (1/9)
The Hill:
Children Living Near Airports May Be Exposed To High Levels Of Lead: Study
Children who live near airports may be unknowingly exposed to dangerous concentrations of lead, a new study finds. The decade-long investigation, published Tuesday in PNAS Nexus, determined that kids who lived adjacent to the Reid-Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County, Calif., had elevated lead levels in their blood. (Udasin, 1/10)
Stat:
Officials Fear Mpox Cases Will Go Undetected And Unreported
In the transmission heyday of the international mpox outbreak early last summer, it appeared that containment might not be possible. In recent months, though, the rate of growth of new cases has slowed considerably in a number of countries. In the United States, daily case reports have been in the single digits since mid-December; the U.K. hasn’t reported a new case since before Christmas. (Branswell, 1/10)
Reuters:
U.S. Says Traffic Deaths Fell Slightly In First Nine Months Of 2022
U.S. traffic deaths fell 0.2% in the first nine months of 2022, reversing a sharp rise in the two prior pandemic years when speeding and other unsafe behavior increased, regulators said on Monday. (Shepardson, 1/9)
Also, on digital access to health tools —
Politico:
Patient Portals’ Digital Divide
Black and Hispanic patients were less likely than white patients to be offered and use online patient portals, a new study from HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT found. The disparities persisted even when adjusting for age, education and other factors in the data for 2019 and 2020. (Leonard, Schumaker and Reader, 1/9)
