[Axios] Texas leaves nearly a quarter of 988 calls unanswered

My genius moment: "A quarter of 988 calls is... 247 calls. That's not very many calls for Texas, is it?"

Proposed foolproof title: "Texas 988 service leaves nearly a quarter of calls unanswered". Source: am fool.

Meanwhile California embraces and funds it: https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2023/07/988-hotline-california-mental-health/

Meanwhile, this article told (reminded?) me that we have a mental health hotline service.

These missed calls are happening at a time when most Americans still aren't aware the 988 national suicide prevention and mental health hotline exists — and even as we hit the service's one-year mark, few states have established long-term funding commitments to sustain it

Plans to use some of the nearly $1 billion in federal funding for a nationwide public service campaign haven't materialized, partly due to early concerns that marketing 988 could overwhelm the lifeline past capacity.

Well, good thing they aren't marketing it. We wouldn't want 1/4 of the calls to go unanswered or anything...

"It's taken 15 years for 911 to evolve to the kind of system that it is today. We're just one year in."

I mean, a 15 minute wait in a mental health crisis still doesn't sound like an ideal goal, but I guess it's better than being completely ignored.