Kentucky, Indiana ready for national launch of 988 suicide prevention hotline

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky and Indiana are just days away from launching a new three-digit hotline that could save lives.

On Saturday, the National Suicide Prevention number will change from 800-273-TALK to 988. It's the mental health equivalent to 911, and a number that could potentially save lives.

A few years ago, Richard Farmer suffered an unexpected and painful loss.

"The other day I was thinking about it, I wonder did she...did she think about what it was going to do to those that she left behind," said Farmer.

At the time, there was no three-digit lifeline when Farmer's daughter Amy died by suicide.

"I think she probably did because she left a note and she said that she was terribly sorry," he said.

The addition of the new 988 hotline could change things for people in crisis.

"We now have centers that are serving every county throughout our state," Geneva Robinson with Seven County Services said.

Robinson said Kentucky is ready for the launch of the hotline.

"That will connect folks to the nearest available, open phone line to a Lifeline Center. And it will be just a quicker easier way for people to reach out don't have to remember all those long numbers," Robinson said.

Indiana is ready for the 988 rollout, as well, according to Secretary of Family and Social Services, Dr. Dan Rusyniak.

He said like other states, Indiana is confronted with a growing mental health crisis compounded by the global pandemic.

"As with any medical condition, the better we are at prevention, diagnoses and treatment...the healthier and better off we are going to be as individuals," he said.

And Robinson agrees.

"I don't think it...I know it. I feel certain it is because we know that when folks are able to connect to help at the time they need it most," Robinson said. "We have good outcomes."