(This article contains content about suicide.)
Milestone’s Customer Service department juggles a lot of responsibilities. Our Customer Service Program Coordinators handle the majority of incoming calls, perform intake interviews for our programs, refer people to other agencies for services, and act as a centralized knowledge-base for all of our programming. There’s never a dull moment in Customer Service and our Coordinators are pros at handling most any situation.
On the morning of June 11, Melissa literally saved someone’s life when she picked up the in-coming Customer Service call. The caller informed her that he wanted to kill himself – a shocking statement that no one expects to hear when they answer the phone. Melissa has a background in Social Work and had recently completed a SafeTalk training through Integrated Services of Kalamazoo which dealt with how to de-escalate a suicidal situation; both of these skills immediately kicked into action. Melissa quickly identified that this was an active suicide attempt—the caller indicated he had ingested a lethal dose of medications. The caller’s speech was slurred, and he was a bit incoherent, but she was able to get enough information to identify that he was in our customer database, and we had his address. She remained calm and kept the caller engaged while simultaneously communicating with her co-worker, Lisa, what was happening. Lisa called 911 to report the incident and called Sara, our Behavioral Health Program Manager, to provide any backup Melissa might need on our end. Melissa remained on the line with the caller keeping him engaged and gathering as much information about the situation as she could. As she learned more details she repeated them to him in a conversational way so that Lisa could hear it and relay the information to the 911 dispatcher.
Minutes seemed like hours, but when the emergency dispatch arrived, the caller let them in. Within a short time, they were able to stabilize his vitals and transport him to the hospital. This was a harrowing experience for Melissa, but one that she handled with complete poise and professionalism. Melissa said that the key to success in this situation was remaining calm, keeping the person on the phone engaged, and the teamwork that she, Lisa and Sara shared to ensuring the best possible outcome. Later Melisa was overwhelmed with the irony of realizing she was the Customer Service Program Coordinator who had done the caller’s intake interview seven months ago when he called to sign up for Meals on Wheels. Melisa was grateful to be there for him in both cases.
