Each week we will post a summary of interesting and representative 211 calls. This week, we have connections from Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick.

Newfoundland and Labrador:

211 Service Navigators will go through different options with callers. When callers are vulnerable, Service Navigators will offer help and advocacy. It is up to the caller whether or not they need the advocacy, and Service Navigators respect the caller’s decision.

A senior called 211 and described his situation. The caller had two chronic diseases that weakened him. He cannot physically access the local food bank himself. The caller had also recently gotten food from the local food bank, which a friend had picked up for him. Unfortunately, he was not eligible to receive food from there again for a few weeks, but he was running out of food.

There were not many food resources in the caller’s community other than the local food bank that he had already accessed. The Service Navigator provided the caller with information on the Food First NL – Community Food Helpline. She asked if the caller wanted assistance contacting them, but he wanted to connect with them directly himself. He said that he would call 211 again if he needed more help.

 

New Brunswick:

211 is a support to agency workers who are facing a situation that is outside the regular focus of their organization. 211 Service Navigators are there 24 hours a day to help organizations to assist their clients.

A 211 Service Navigator took a call from a female worker from an agency in Moncton. She told the Service Navigator that one of her clients temporarily needed a place to stay. The worker did not know where to send him or whom to call.

The 211 Service Navigator assessed the situation. She probed as to the client’s age and found out that he was a youth. She discovered that he needed a space right away and could not stay with family or friends.

The 211 Service Navigator gave the agency worker two referrals to shelters in Moncton. She let the worker know the intake procedures and all of the relevant details about the shelters. She encouraged the worker to call 211 again if she or the client needed more assistance.