July 27, 2025 • 29 mins
Oregon's 988 service is available to everyone in the state with mental health concerns. Oregon's Student Loan Ombuds is ready to help guide students through complex issues of student loans. Are you aware of the gold bar scam and how people are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to it? Oregon State Parks needs your advice on its future.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Local Voices. I'm brad for this week. Oregon's
nine eight eight services available to all Oregonians needing mental
health support. Oregon can help students navigate their student loans.
We'll tell you about two scams to watch for at
Oregon State Parks needs your advice. The Oregon Health Authority
(00:25):
wants everyone in the state to know about the nine
eight aid service. It's more than a hotline. It's a website,
text and chat service for anyone who needs mental health support.
OAH Deputy Director, doctor Christa Jones joins us on Local Voices.
Christa tell us about nine eight eight and when did
it start?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It actually launched nationally in July twenty two. And what
I want to say about this wonderful resources that anyone
can call, they can text, or they can chat when
they need any form of mental health support. And in
terms of a little bit of history, previous ninety eight
was a ten digit number that was called the National
(01:03):
Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which was established in two thousand and five.
So that converted into this three digit national resource that
we have today.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
And so you mentioned there a variety of ways people
can connect to it. So nine eight eight. They would
obviously be the phone, but what are the other methods?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, what is great about this resources that is actually
tapping into how individuals these days actually you know, seek
out resource and seek out connection and communications. So in
addition to calling ninety eight eight, folks can text ninety eight,
or they can chat online at ninety eight Oregon dot org.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Now can the callers be anonymous?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Absolutely? Absolutely, It's really important that folks feel that safety
when they're calling. So when they call, they can experience
a free, confidential, of course, judgment, free support and connection
to somebody. They don't have to provide any names, they
don't have to write an an identifying information. Sometimes a
(02:08):
counselor might ask for a phone number, but that's really
so that they can call back if they get disconnected,
and they may ask for the name of the county
or the city so that they can recommend more local resources.
But of course this information doesn't have to be shared,
and folks can stand on this.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
If they want to tell us about the people who
staff the hotline, do they have special training?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Absolutely, The people that are that staff the hotline aren't
trained mental health crisis counselors. There are behavioral health professionals,
which also includes peer support specialists.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So these are.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Individuals who have had similar you know, experiences with behavioral
health as there you know, folks who might be calling,
and so they they have their own training and their
own you know, uh way of working and connecting with
an individual who's calling. The counselors and organ actually come
(03:03):
from two agencies, once called Lines for Life and the
other one is called Northwest Human Services, and in both
agencies they rigorously train individuals their providers in crisis the
espilation and also how to connect individuals to resources. And
what we know about this is that when folks do
(03:23):
use this resource, research tells us that they feel less depressed,
they feel less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and also more hopeful
after they use ninety date.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
You kind of touched on this, but what are the
options of a caller needs additional support.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, that's the great thing about this resource is that
ninety D eight is an entry point. It's an entry point
into the behavioral health services that are provided an organ
And so at times the individual might just get whatever
they need in that moment from the counselor, or they're
going to get connections to local resources they might get
(04:02):
follow up calls they you know, if they need support.
People can always call back as many times as they
want to, and callers may be directed to their community
mental health program at their county if they require or
need or want any sort of specialized support. You know,
some folks do also called assistique advice, or to have
(04:24):
a connection to hear you know, a warm voice on
the other side. So it's a really great resource that
offers a lots of people.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Now there's a new data dashboard. How does that work
and what does it show?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, the data dashboards actually really it was designed so
that it's really accessible. We wanted anybody in Oregon or
anywhere else to be able to go there and really
identify and see how nine eight eight is working and
some of the nuances around nine eight eight. And so
you just go to the dashboard and click around on
(05:00):
different tabs that walk you through you know what results
after a call is made, you know what people are
calling for. So it's a lot of great information and
it's really aligned with organ health authorities desire to just
be more transparent and to also to be tracking impact
so that we can better understand how different investments and
(05:23):
resources in our state are having an impact on people.
Some of the key findings that can be found on
the dashboard is that in the past year, there's been
eighty five thousand or more calls, texts, or chats have
been answered, and most contexts are about mental or emotional
health or family relationship ship issues more so than suicidal ideation.
And so that's really one of the points that I
(05:45):
think is important for folks to understand is that you
don't have to be in a crisis in order to
benefit from ninety eight eight. You could be in a crisis,
of course, but what we really want folks to understand
and to seek ninety eight out for is if we
want we want them to connect before it becomes a crisis.
(06:06):
We want folks to connect before they get to that
point where they might need kind of more serious resources
that are available. And it's it's really important also as
a way to kind of normalize just reaching out to somebody.
I think younger folks, especially, what we've heard anecdotally is
(06:26):
that younger folks might not think that they're the issue
or the problem or the struggle that they're having. Meets
that that standard of making a call and reaching out,
and so we want everyone to just recognize that, you know,
if you're having financial problems and that's impacting your emotional experience,
or if you're having a conflict with a friend, or
(06:48):
if you're having you reactions to things that are going
on in society or in your own community, or if
you're feeling you know, suicidal, or if you're feeling depressed,
or if you're having a problem with substance use. We
want anyone to feel that they can make that call
and that they're going to get the support that they need.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Now, the Oregon Health Authority is running a campaign called
Connect to Hope. Tell us about that and what's the goal?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yes, absolutely, and what a wonderful campaign I think it is.
Connect to Hope is really about increasing public awareness. It
was launched on the third anniversary of ninety eight in
July of twenty twenty five, and we've really set out
with four primary goals. One is that we wanted to
boost awareness that ninety eight is available. It's available twenty
(07:37):
four hours day, seven days a week for anyone. We
wanted to also show that reaching out even before a
crisis is a sign of strength and it helps you know,
as I mentioned it helps address some of those issues
before they become bigger issues or bigger struggles. We also
wanted to position ninety eight as a front door for
the behavioral health supports that exist, especially for those who
(08:01):
are you know, facing stress or relationship strain, or they
may not have the support that networks that they that
they need in their in their community. And finally, we
really wanted to center community voices and solutions. And so
our campaign goal is to really resonate with people and
reach people who have been disproportionately affected by different behavior
(08:23):
health crises, also suicide, and also specifically aimed at, you know,
increasing general awareness of ninety day a process to the oregan.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
How is the campaign being publicized? Where will we see
it everywhere?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It was launched on July sixteenth and twenty twenty five,
and so this includes billboards and radio and TV and
newspaper ads. You know, people might even see our ads
in the local theater while they're you know, watching a movie,
or while they're using public transportation, or even in some
of the shops or stores that they go to. It's
(09:00):
also happening of course on social media channels. And we're
also I think this is very important because it is
really at the heart of our campaign is that we're
partnering with statewide and local behavioral health providers and community
groups to extend the reach of ninety eight eight. We
want to invite you and others to get involved at
(09:20):
any level that you'd like, and there's more information that's
available at nine eight eight organ dot org, Forward slash Partners.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Forward slash christ final question here, what do you want
people to know about the ninety eight hotline.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
We want people to know that ninety eight eight and
the wonderful staff who work in the organization to answer
those phones. These individuals are here to listen and it
doesn't matter what you're going through, whether you feel like
it's big or you feel like it's small. We want
you to know that there is a kind and helpful
and trains listening here on the other end of back call.
(09:54):
We're typing in the chat or typing in text. If
it is on your mind, it matters to us. And
anyone could call for themselves if they're having a mental
health or substance use this year with their fully stress
or they can also call for a loved one. With
the new dashboard, you can now see real time data
on usage and look at the impact that it's making
(10:17):
across organ And finally that we want you to know
that the Connect to Hope campaign invites everyone to normalize
help seeking and to keep the nine eight eight number
on top of mind.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Christer, thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's OHA
Deputy director doctor Christa Jones discussing Oregon's nine eight eight
service Again. You can learn more at nine eight eight
Oregon dot org. Oregonians with student loans can face a
tough time with changes from the federal government. Oregon Student
loan umbuds Lane Thompson works to help them. Lane joins
(10:51):
us on Local Voices. Lane tell us about your job
and how you can help students.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yeah, So, my main responsibilities are taking complaints against student
loan servicers, so I try to resolve issues around application
of payments, credit reporting, and then I do outreach and education,
So I do trainings with various organizations about student loans
(11:15):
and answer questions and help people navigate them.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
So you recently posted a third annual report on the
student loan landscape. What did that report find?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, so this year's report really focused on the lack
of clarity that borrowers have at this point. There have
been a ton of changes to student loans over the
past five or so years, and they've been applied somewhat inconsistently.
(11:47):
Just a really difficult time for people to figure out
what their options are and if they're making the right choices.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yeah, it really makes it difficult when there are that
many changes to kind of follow what's happening, right and
how that applies to a student who has borrowed money.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yes, exactly what.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Are some of the issues that they're facing. I mean,
I'm thinking back. I remember hearing there were times where
loans were being some loans were being forgiven, and then
people had to restart paying their loans. What have some
of the issues been, Yes.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
I would say, you know, since the COVID nineteen pause,
they were on hold. Payments were on hold for three
full years, and so after that time, it just has
not felt at all clear to people what options are
available for repayment or cancelation. Those are the two main
(12:40):
areas that there have been changes to. So basically, how
much am I supposed to pay every month? How long
do I need to pay on these loans? And then
a lot of questions about am I eligible for any
kind of forgiveness? And the types of forgiveness available have changed, and.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So I would expect too for the loan servicing companies.
All these people who have borrowed money are calling trying
to figure out what they need to do. Does that
overwhelm those loan servicers and make it difficult for them
to answer calls and answer questions?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah? Definitely. Pretty much everybody I speak with has attempted
to call their servicer before calling me, and sometimes have
waited on hold for four hours or more before being
able to reach somebody.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Wow. What is your advice for student loan borrowers who
need to understand need help understanding the changes and how
it might affect their loan.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Yeah, so I always recommend that people start at studentaid
dot gov. That's the Department of Education website that lists
exactly what options are available today and how to pursue them.
I'm also available as a resource at Organstavision of Financial Regulation.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And so you mentioned some of the people waiting for
hours on the phone. Does it work any better to
send a loan servicer and email with a question.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Yeah. Some of the servicers have very good secure messaging
systems and sometimes that can work better. It kind of
varies from one servicer to another, but sometimes email is
a good option.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
So is it important to take action to find out
the status of a loan and not wait for notification.
There's a problem.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Absolutely. That's really why I encourage people to go to
Student ad duc of is. If you log in there,
you can find out what the current status of your
loan is and figure out if you need to take
any action.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Lane, thanks for joining us in Local Voices. That's Lane Thompson,
Oregon's student loan ombuds. You can learn more on the
Oregon Department of Financial Regulations website under Student Loan Help.
There's a scam involving gold bars that is costing victims
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mattie Alvarado, the Consumer Advocacy
manager at the Oregon Department of Justice, joins us on
(14:56):
Local Voices. Maddy, how does this scam work?
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Yeah, so well, essentially. In the particular scenario that was
reported to us, it was an elderly woman from eastern Oregon.
She had initially been tricked out of six hundred thousand dollars.
The scammers are posing as federal agents, and they told
her that her financial accounts were in danger of being
(15:21):
frozen or hat so their solution was that the only
way she could protect her assets was to convert her
money into gold bars and then hand them over to
them for safe keeping. So, unfortunately, she did follow their instructions,
believing she was doing the right thing and protecting herself
(15:43):
and her finances, and had initially handed over six hundred
thousand dollars. The case was then it could have been
even worse. The woman was actually preparing to hand over
another three hundred thousand dollars, and her sister grew concerned
(16:03):
and then called into the Attorney General's consumer hotline, and
that is the call that made the difference and really
saved her sister's remaining life savings. DOJ staff received the
call from the woman's family, who explained that they were
concerned that their elderly sister maybe being watched, and they
(16:23):
explained that she was preparing to hand over an additional
three hundred thousand dollars in gold to a career staff
immediately recognized the urgency of this matter and explained that
it really was a criminal matter and warranted police involvement.
The family initially expressed hesitation, we believe because they thought
(16:44):
that she was being watched and that they were being watched,
but ultimately they agreed for their call to be escalated
and then, acting quickly, DOJ staff went on to notify
the Women's the Sisters local Lice department, who then quickly responded,
and when they arrived, there was gold in her car.
(17:06):
She was waiting for that other carrier to come and
pick it up. I did speak with the police officer
that made contact with her, and he expressed that even
upon him being there, initially she was very hesitant to
even talk to them. The scammers were on the phone
with her at that time. They even talked with the
(17:27):
officer and stated they did not believe he was an officer.
So it's it was one of the larger scams that
I've seen since I've been here.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
The suspects must be very convincing.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
Yes, yes they are. And you know, I think there's
an important element to this that people forget that is
that it's really incredibly emotional. So the scams aren't just
stealing money. They're really going to leave these victims feeling ashamed, embarrassed, afraid.
So some victims are hesitant to report to authorities even
(18:07):
if they suspect that they may be involved in a
scam or telling it even their family, because they're fearful
of being judged or blamed, and ultimately that silence can
cost them even more. So, you know, we want people
to know that scammers are relying on fear and isolation,
(18:30):
and they know if that victim talks to somebody like
a family member, a neighbor, or police, that scam is
going to fall apart.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
How do you protect yourself against this scam? What are
the signs?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Sure, So, the DOJ wants to remind all or going
ins that one no legitimate government agency will ever ask
you to buy gold or send money, to have somebody
go to your home to give them money or collect
gold or anything like that. It's just not going to
happen for any state or federal agency. Things that that
(19:05):
people can do is to, you know, hang up immediately
if somebody is pressuring you to withdraw or transfer money,
just hang up the phone. You don't need to stay
on with them. Don't click on any suspicious links or
respond to unsolicited texts or emails. You know, if you're
getting a text that says, hey, you owe this money.
(19:27):
Click on this link and there's a name of a business.
We urge you do your own search. Call a phone
number that is listed, you know, on a legitimate site,
go to their legitimate website. Verify first, never give out
your personal or financial information to someone you don't know,
(19:49):
and you know if you're questioning, if you get a
call from somebody who says they're calling from your bank,
hang up, call them back, call them back at the
number that you know that you have. And then, of
course we all ask people to report suspicious activity to
our consumer hotline. That number is one eight seven seven
eight seven seven nine three ninety two. And if anybody's
(20:13):
ever unfortunately been a victim, we do ask you to
file a complaint at the Oregon Consumer dot gov. Additionally,
we do ask that people file a report with the
Federal Trade Commission as well.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Maddie, thanks for joining us on local voices. That's Matti Alvarado,
the Consumer Advocacy manager at the Oregon Department of Justice
and details about the gold bar scam. Again, the Oregon
Consumer Hotline is one eight seven seven eight seven seven
nine to three, nine to two. There's a text message
(20:47):
scam going around that focuses on the Oregon Department of
Motor Vehicles DMVs. Chris Krab joins us a local voices
Chris tell us about these scam text messages.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
Last month, we had one that was all about tolls.
This one is saying final notice enforcement penalties begin, and
it'll give a certain date and then it basically says
that as of today, you have an outstanding traffic ticket
in accordance with Oregon State Administrative Code, which is a
bogus code, and that if you don't complete payment, they're
(21:18):
going to take a whole bunch of actions, and then
it gives a payment link. Unfortunately, the link has Oregon
dot GOVO dot in it, which really is what's confusing
a lot of people. I think is it looks somewhat legitimate.
It is not legitimate, and please do not click on
any links or send any payment information.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
This is not the type of thing that or the
DMV would send out.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
No, absolutely not. So the Oregon DMV is never going
to ask for personal information or payment through an unsolicited
text or an email or a phone call. So our
transaction should only be completed online at our DMV tou
secure portal or in person at a DMV office. But
even then, we're not going to text you and tell
(22:05):
you to come into that office and pay us, or
to go to DMV to you and pay us any
kind of payment information we would send in a formal letter.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
What do you want people to do if they received
one of these text messages?
Speaker 6 (22:19):
So the most important thing is do not click on
any links. That's where you're going to get taken to
a site where they're going to ask for more information
or your payment, or it could it could put malware
on your computer. So don't click the links, delete the text,
block the number so that you can prevent them from
(22:41):
calling in again or texting you again. One other thing
you can do is you can actually report this to
the US Federal Trade Commission. They do ask that you
include the phone number from where the text originated, and
then any website listed within the text, and you can
find that number on our fraud prevention website.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
If you have older relatives, older friends, is it a
good idea to explain that this is a problem and
how to watch for it and what to do with it.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
Yeah, that's the thing that really concerns me the most
is that They're going to be targeting a lot of
older people who maybe are not as aware of phishing
or smashine scams and just think, I don't want to
get in trouble. I want to pay this, I want
to get this taken care of. We've had so many
people come into our offices to take care of paying this,
(23:34):
so we're putting signs on all of our field offices
saying this is a scam. Please do not fall for this.
We don't want anyone to get their information or any
payment stolen.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That's Chris Krab with the Oregon Depriverment of Motor Vehicles
and details about the latest text message scam using the
DMV and how to avoid it. Oregon State Parks is
looking for your opinion through an online survey. They face
a fourteen percent budget shortfall in twenty twenty seven and
twenty twenty eight and they need to make changes. Stephanie
Nolton with Oregon State Parks joins us on Local Voices.
(24:08):
Stephanie tell us about the budget situation.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
We are holding study for now, but as we're looking
toward the future. The twenty twenty seven twenty twenty nine
by anem we're anticipating a fourteen percent operations budget shortfall
for the park system.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
How are Oregon Parks funded?
Speaker 3 (24:26):
That is a great question. I think that most people
would be surprised to know that we are not funded
by general fund taxes. Instead, most of our funds come
from constitutionally dedicated lottery funds and then that's about half
of our funding, and about thirty five percent comes from
park fees and visitors, and about fifteen percent of the
(24:49):
agencies comes from the agency's share of recreational vehicle license
plate fees.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
What's causing the budget shortfall.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
The gap is due to increasing costs, of course everybody's
experiencing that, and then also the impact of higher visitation.
We're seeing year over year record visitation that really does
take a toll on the system in terms of wear
and tear and aging infrastructure. And in addition, there have
been changes in lottery funds and so the percentage of
lottery funds that we get to dedicate toward perk operations
(25:19):
has decreased, and so that has had an impact on
our operations, specially so when with those three things combined,
and of course there's other financial pressures. Those are some
of the big ones that are leading to that funding
shortfall two years from now.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
What are some of the things that you look at
as far as as you know, as ways that you
can generate additional revenue.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, and that's a great question. And in terms of
generating revenue, we are raising rates. I think people have
noticed that, and there is something that we will contigue
to do to help some of those the revenue kind
of keep pace with some of those costs. In the past,
it may have gotten ten years before we would increase,
(26:05):
you know, like the maybe one of the fees, and
I think of the future, you'll probably see more frequent updates,
which is a more sustainable fundname model, and so I
think visitor fees is a piece of it, of course.
And we're also looking at the ways that we spend money,
so not cuts necessarily, but just ways that we can
streamline those costs. We operate pretty leanly already, but we
(26:29):
are looking at ways that we can, you know, operate
even more leanly to make sure that we're being the
best possible stewards of these public resources. And in addition
to that, we're looking at increasing public private partnership, so concessions.
There's some examples that we already do across the state.
For example, there's a tree climbing business that Silver Falls,
(26:52):
and there's also the Smith Creek Village which has cabins
and group rental space. They have the ranches there, and
there's also a cafe and a restaurant, And so are
there more opportunities across the state to incorporate some of
those public private partnerships in order to increase revenue. Another
thing that we're looking at is increasing the number of
(27:14):
cabins in yours. Those are wildly popular across the state,
and so are there parks that we can add additional
cabins in yours to increase that revenue as well?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
So tell us about the survey. What are you hoping
to learn from the survey?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
So we're looking we're wanting to reimagine Oregon State parks
to help build a more financially sustainable future. And so
some of the things that we're really interested in finding
out are thing is that visitors are interested in new
and existing experiences, services, amenities. And then we want to
better understand public views on public private partnership, sponsorships and
(27:49):
other funding options. As we're looking toward the future.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Who can take part in the survey everybody.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
We're hoping everybody fiells it out. So if you're an
avid parks user, if you've never been to a state park,
whoever you are, whatever, you're a relationship with Oregon State Parks,
whatever that is, now, we want to hear from you.
So we are interested in hearing from the avid visitors,
of course, because they they know those parks best. And
(28:17):
we're also interested in hearing from people who might not
have been to state parks because we're interested in what
they have to say and maybe there are things that
we can develop that entice a new generation of visitors
to come see us.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
How do people access the survey?
Speaker 3 (28:32):
And so if you go to our website and that
Stateparks dot orgon dot gov, there'll be a link on
the landing page to the park survey and people can
get to it from there. One fun thing to note
that if you do complete this survey, there's you can
enter your information for a chance to win a annual
(28:55):
parking permit. If people are interested in learning more about
some of the things that we're looking at, we'll be
posting information over the next couple of months around the
initiatives that we're looking at, and so just stay tuned
and if you're interested in supporting parks, we do have
information on our website about volunteering, about donating, about getting involved,
(29:17):
and so if that is something that's interesting to folks,
they're welcome to check out our website and see how
they can get connected.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Stephanie, thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's Stephanie
Knowlton with the Oregon State Parks on the budget shortfall
they face in twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight,
and an online survey asking for your ideas on how
Oregon State Parks can change their operations to increase revenue.
Thanks for listening to Local Voices. I'm Brad Bard. You
can hear past episodes on the iHeartRadio app under the
(29:47):
podcast tab. Local Voices is a public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio.
Welcome to Local Voices. I'm brad for this week. Oregon's
nine eight eight services available to all Oregonians needing mental
health support. Oregon can help students navigate their student loans.
We'll tell you about two scams to watch for at
Oregon State Parks needs your advice. The Oregon Health Authority
(00:25):
wants everyone in the state to know about the nine
eight aid service. It's more than a hotline. It's a website,
text and chat service for anyone who needs mental health support.
OAH Deputy Director, doctor Christa Jones joins us on Local Voices.
Christa tell us about nine eight eight and when did
it start?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It actually launched nationally in July twenty two. And what
I want to say about this wonderful resources that anyone
can call, they can text, or they can chat when
they need any form of mental health support. And in
terms of a little bit of history, previous ninety eight
was a ten digit number that was called the National
(01:03):
Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which was established in two thousand and five.
So that converted into this three digit national resource that
we have today.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
And so you mentioned there a variety of ways people
can connect to it. So nine eight eight. They would
obviously be the phone, but what are the other methods?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, what is great about this resources that is actually
tapping into how individuals these days actually you know, seek
out resource and seek out connection and communications. So in
addition to calling ninety eight eight, folks can text ninety eight,
or they can chat online at ninety eight Oregon dot org.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Now can the callers be anonymous?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Absolutely? Absolutely, It's really important that folks feel that safety
when they're calling. So when they call, they can experience
a free, confidential, of course, judgment, free support and connection
to somebody. They don't have to provide any names, they
don't have to write an an identifying information. Sometimes a
(02:08):
counselor might ask for a phone number, but that's really
so that they can call back if they get disconnected,
and they may ask for the name of the county
or the city so that they can recommend more local resources.
But of course this information doesn't have to be shared,
and folks can stand on this.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
If they want to tell us about the people who
staff the hotline, do they have special training?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Absolutely, The people that are that staff the hotline aren't
trained mental health crisis counselors. There are behavioral health professionals,
which also includes peer support specialists.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So these are.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Individuals who have had similar you know, experiences with behavioral
health as there you know, folks who might be calling,
and so they they have their own training and their
own you know, uh way of working and connecting with
an individual who's calling. The counselors and organ actually come
(03:03):
from two agencies, once called Lines for Life and the
other one is called Northwest Human Services, and in both
agencies they rigorously train individuals their providers in crisis the
espilation and also how to connect individuals to resources. And
what we know about this is that when folks do
(03:23):
use this resource, research tells us that they feel less depressed,
they feel less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and also more hopeful
after they use ninety date.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
You kind of touched on this, but what are the
options of a caller needs additional support.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, that's the great thing about this resource is that
ninety D eight is an entry point. It's an entry point
into the behavioral health services that are provided an organ
And so at times the individual might just get whatever
they need in that moment from the counselor, or they're
going to get connections to local resources they might get
(04:02):
follow up calls they you know, if they need support.
People can always call back as many times as they
want to, and callers may be directed to their community
mental health program at their county if they require or
need or want any sort of specialized support. You know,
some folks do also called assistique advice, or to have
(04:24):
a connection to hear you know, a warm voice on
the other side. So it's a really great resource that
offers a lots of people.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Now there's a new data dashboard. How does that work
and what does it show?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, the data dashboards actually really it was designed so
that it's really accessible. We wanted anybody in Oregon or
anywhere else to be able to go there and really
identify and see how nine eight eight is working and
some of the nuances around nine eight eight. And so
you just go to the dashboard and click around on
(05:00):
different tabs that walk you through you know what results
after a call is made, you know what people are
calling for. So it's a lot of great information and
it's really aligned with organ health authorities desire to just
be more transparent and to also to be tracking impact
so that we can better understand how different investments and
(05:23):
resources in our state are having an impact on people.
Some of the key findings that can be found on
the dashboard is that in the past year, there's been
eighty five thousand or more calls, texts, or chats have
been answered, and most contexts are about mental or emotional
health or family relationship ship issues more so than suicidal ideation.
And so that's really one of the points that I
(05:45):
think is important for folks to understand is that you
don't have to be in a crisis in order to
benefit from ninety eight eight. You could be in a crisis,
of course, but what we really want folks to understand
and to seek ninety eight out for is if we
want we want them to connect before it becomes a crisis.
(06:06):
We want folks to connect before they get to that
point where they might need kind of more serious resources
that are available. And it's it's really important also as
a way to kind of normalize just reaching out to somebody.
I think younger folks, especially, what we've heard anecdotally is
(06:26):
that younger folks might not think that they're the issue
or the problem or the struggle that they're having. Meets
that that standard of making a call and reaching out,
and so we want everyone to just recognize that, you know,
if you're having financial problems and that's impacting your emotional experience,
or if you're having a conflict with a friend, or
(06:48):
if you're having you reactions to things that are going
on in society or in your own community, or if
you're feeling you know, suicidal, or if you're feeling depressed,
or if you're having a problem with substance use. We
want anyone to feel that they can make that call
and that they're going to get the support that they need.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Now, the Oregon Health Authority is running a campaign called
Connect to Hope. Tell us about that and what's the goal?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yes, absolutely, and what a wonderful campaign I think it is.
Connect to Hope is really about increasing public awareness. It
was launched on the third anniversary of ninety eight in
July of twenty twenty five, and we've really set out
with four primary goals. One is that we wanted to
boost awareness that ninety eight is available. It's available twenty
(07:37):
four hours day, seven days a week for anyone. We
wanted to also show that reaching out even before a
crisis is a sign of strength and it helps you know,
as I mentioned it helps address some of those issues
before they become bigger issues or bigger struggles. We also
wanted to position ninety eight as a front door for
the behavioral health supports that exist, especially for those who
(08:01):
are you know, facing stress or relationship strain, or they
may not have the support that networks that they that
they need in their in their community. And finally, we
really wanted to center community voices and solutions. And so
our campaign goal is to really resonate with people and
reach people who have been disproportionately affected by different behavior
(08:23):
health crises, also suicide, and also specifically aimed at, you know,
increasing general awareness of ninety day a process to the oregan.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
How is the campaign being publicized? Where will we see
it everywhere?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It was launched on July sixteenth and twenty twenty five,
and so this includes billboards and radio and TV and
newspaper ads. You know, people might even see our ads
in the local theater while they're you know, watching a movie,
or while they're using public transportation, or even in some
of the shops or stores that they go to. It's
(09:00):
also happening of course on social media channels. And we're
also I think this is very important because it is
really at the heart of our campaign is that we're
partnering with statewide and local behavioral health providers and community
groups to extend the reach of ninety eight eight. We
want to invite you and others to get involved at
(09:20):
any level that you'd like, and there's more information that's
available at nine eight eight organ dot org, Forward slash Partners.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Forward slash christ final question here, what do you want
people to know about the ninety eight hotline.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
We want people to know that ninety eight eight and
the wonderful staff who work in the organization to answer
those phones. These individuals are here to listen and it
doesn't matter what you're going through, whether you feel like
it's big or you feel like it's small. We want
you to know that there is a kind and helpful
and trains listening here on the other end of back call.
(09:54):
We're typing in the chat or typing in text. If
it is on your mind, it matters to us. And
anyone could call for themselves if they're having a mental
health or substance use this year with their fully stress
or they can also call for a loved one. With
the new dashboard, you can now see real time data
on usage and look at the impact that it's making
(10:17):
across organ And finally that we want you to know
that the Connect to Hope campaign invites everyone to normalize
help seeking and to keep the nine eight eight number
on top of mind.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Christer, thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's OHA
Deputy director doctor Christa Jones discussing Oregon's nine eight eight
service Again. You can learn more at nine eight eight
Oregon dot org. Oregonians with student loans can face a
tough time with changes from the federal government. Oregon Student
loan umbuds Lane Thompson works to help them. Lane joins
(10:51):
us on Local Voices. Lane tell us about your job
and how you can help students.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yeah, So, my main responsibilities are taking complaints against student
loan servicers, so I try to resolve issues around application
of payments, credit reporting, and then I do outreach and education,
So I do trainings with various organizations about student loans
(11:15):
and answer questions and help people navigate them.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
So you recently posted a third annual report on the
student loan landscape. What did that report find?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, so this year's report really focused on the lack
of clarity that borrowers have at this point. There have
been a ton of changes to student loans over the
past five or so years, and they've been applied somewhat inconsistently.
(11:47):
Just a really difficult time for people to figure out
what their options are and if they're making the right choices.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yeah, it really makes it difficult when there are that
many changes to kind of follow what's happening, right and
how that applies to a student who has borrowed money.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yes, exactly what.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Are some of the issues that they're facing. I mean,
I'm thinking back. I remember hearing there were times where
loans were being some loans were being forgiven, and then
people had to restart paying their loans. What have some
of the issues been, Yes.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
I would say, you know, since the COVID nineteen pause,
they were on hold. Payments were on hold for three
full years, and so after that time, it just has
not felt at all clear to people what options are
available for repayment or cancelation. Those are the two main
(12:40):
areas that there have been changes to. So basically, how
much am I supposed to pay every month? How long
do I need to pay on these loans? And then
a lot of questions about am I eligible for any
kind of forgiveness? And the types of forgiveness available have changed, and.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So I would expect too for the loan servicing companies.
All these people who have borrowed money are calling trying
to figure out what they need to do. Does that
overwhelm those loan servicers and make it difficult for them
to answer calls and answer questions?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah? Definitely. Pretty much everybody I speak with has attempted
to call their servicer before calling me, and sometimes have
waited on hold for four hours or more before being
able to reach somebody.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Wow. What is your advice for student loan borrowers who
need to understand need help understanding the changes and how
it might affect their loan.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Yeah, so I always recommend that people start at studentaid
dot gov. That's the Department of Education website that lists
exactly what options are available today and how to pursue them.
I'm also available as a resource at Organstavision of Financial Regulation.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And so you mentioned some of the people waiting for
hours on the phone. Does it work any better to
send a loan servicer and email with a question.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Yeah. Some of the servicers have very good secure messaging
systems and sometimes that can work better. It kind of
varies from one servicer to another, but sometimes email is
a good option.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
So is it important to take action to find out
the status of a loan and not wait for notification.
There's a problem.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Absolutely. That's really why I encourage people to go to
Student ad duc of is. If you log in there,
you can find out what the current status of your
loan is and figure out if you need to take
any action.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Lane, thanks for joining us in Local Voices. That's Lane Thompson,
Oregon's student loan ombuds. You can learn more on the
Oregon Department of Financial Regulations website under Student Loan Help.
There's a scam involving gold bars that is costing victims
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mattie Alvarado, the Consumer Advocacy
manager at the Oregon Department of Justice, joins us on
(14:56):
Local Voices. Maddy, how does this scam work?
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Yeah, so well, essentially. In the particular scenario that was
reported to us, it was an elderly woman from eastern Oregon.
She had initially been tricked out of six hundred thousand dollars.
The scammers are posing as federal agents, and they told
her that her financial accounts were in danger of being
(15:21):
frozen or hat so their solution was that the only
way she could protect her assets was to convert her
money into gold bars and then hand them over to
them for safe keeping. So, unfortunately, she did follow their instructions,
believing she was doing the right thing and protecting herself
(15:43):
and her finances, and had initially handed over six hundred
thousand dollars. The case was then it could have been
even worse. The woman was actually preparing to hand over
another three hundred thousand dollars, and her sister grew concerned
(16:03):
and then called into the Attorney General's consumer hotline, and
that is the call that made the difference and really
saved her sister's remaining life savings. DOJ staff received the
call from the woman's family, who explained that they were
concerned that their elderly sister maybe being watched, and they
(16:23):
explained that she was preparing to hand over an additional
three hundred thousand dollars in gold to a career staff
immediately recognized the urgency of this matter and explained that
it really was a criminal matter and warranted police involvement.
The family initially expressed hesitation, we believe because they thought
(16:44):
that she was being watched and that they were being watched,
but ultimately they agreed for their call to be escalated
and then, acting quickly, DOJ staff went on to notify
the Women's the Sisters local Lice department, who then quickly responded,
and when they arrived, there was gold in her car.
(17:06):
She was waiting for that other carrier to come and
pick it up. I did speak with the police officer
that made contact with her, and he expressed that even
upon him being there, initially she was very hesitant to
even talk to them. The scammers were on the phone
with her at that time. They even talked with the
(17:27):
officer and stated they did not believe he was an officer.
So it's it was one of the larger scams that
I've seen since I've been here.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
The suspects must be very convincing.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
Yes, yes they are. And you know, I think there's
an important element to this that people forget that is
that it's really incredibly emotional. So the scams aren't just
stealing money. They're really going to leave these victims feeling ashamed, embarrassed, afraid.
So some victims are hesitant to report to authorities even
(18:07):
if they suspect that they may be involved in a
scam or telling it even their family, because they're fearful
of being judged or blamed, and ultimately that silence can
cost them even more. So, you know, we want people
to know that scammers are relying on fear and isolation,
(18:30):
and they know if that victim talks to somebody like
a family member, a neighbor, or police, that scam is
going to fall apart.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
How do you protect yourself against this scam? What are
the signs?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Sure, So, the DOJ wants to remind all or going
ins that one no legitimate government agency will ever ask
you to buy gold or send money, to have somebody
go to your home to give them money or collect
gold or anything like that. It's just not going to
happen for any state or federal agency. Things that that
(19:05):
people can do is to, you know, hang up immediately
if somebody is pressuring you to withdraw or transfer money,
just hang up the phone. You don't need to stay
on with them. Don't click on any suspicious links or
respond to unsolicited texts or emails. You know, if you're
getting a text that says, hey, you owe this money.
(19:27):
Click on this link and there's a name of a business.
We urge you do your own search. Call a phone
number that is listed, you know, on a legitimate site,
go to their legitimate website. Verify first, never give out
your personal or financial information to someone you don't know,
(19:49):
and you know if you're questioning, if you get a
call from somebody who says they're calling from your bank,
hang up, call them back, call them back at the
number that you know that you have. And then, of
course we all ask people to report suspicious activity to
our consumer hotline. That number is one eight seven seven
eight seven seven nine three ninety two. And if anybody's
(20:13):
ever unfortunately been a victim, we do ask you to
file a complaint at the Oregon Consumer dot gov. Additionally,
we do ask that people file a report with the
Federal Trade Commission as well.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Maddie, thanks for joining us on local voices. That's Matti Alvarado,
the Consumer Advocacy manager at the Oregon Department of Justice
and details about the gold bar scam. Again, the Oregon
Consumer Hotline is one eight seven seven eight seven seven
nine to three, nine to two. There's a text message
(20:47):
scam going around that focuses on the Oregon Department of
Motor Vehicles DMVs. Chris Krab joins us a local voices
Chris tell us about these scam text messages.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
Last month, we had one that was all about tolls.
This one is saying final notice enforcement penalties begin, and
it'll give a certain date and then it basically says
that as of today, you have an outstanding traffic ticket
in accordance with Oregon State Administrative Code, which is a
bogus code, and that if you don't complete payment, they're
(21:18):
going to take a whole bunch of actions, and then
it gives a payment link. Unfortunately, the link has Oregon
dot GOVO dot in it, which really is what's confusing
a lot of people. I think is it looks somewhat legitimate.
It is not legitimate, and please do not click on
any links or send any payment information.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
This is not the type of thing that or the
DMV would send out.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
No, absolutely not. So the Oregon DMV is never going
to ask for personal information or payment through an unsolicited
text or an email or a phone call. So our
transaction should only be completed online at our DMV tou
secure portal or in person at a DMV office. But
even then, we're not going to text you and tell
(22:05):
you to come into that office and pay us, or
to go to DMV to you and pay us any
kind of payment information we would send in a formal letter.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
What do you want people to do if they received
one of these text messages?
Speaker 6 (22:19):
So the most important thing is do not click on
any links. That's where you're going to get taken to
a site where they're going to ask for more information
or your payment, or it could it could put malware
on your computer. So don't click the links, delete the text,
block the number so that you can prevent them from
(22:41):
calling in again or texting you again. One other thing
you can do is you can actually report this to
the US Federal Trade Commission. They do ask that you
include the phone number from where the text originated, and
then any website listed within the text, and you can
find that number on our fraud prevention website.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
If you have older relatives, older friends, is it a
good idea to explain that this is a problem and
how to watch for it and what to do with it.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
Yeah, that's the thing that really concerns me the most
is that They're going to be targeting a lot of
older people who maybe are not as aware of phishing
or smashine scams and just think, I don't want to
get in trouble. I want to pay this, I want
to get this taken care of. We've had so many
people come into our offices to take care of paying this,
(23:34):
so we're putting signs on all of our field offices
saying this is a scam. Please do not fall for this.
We don't want anyone to get their information or any
payment stolen.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That's Chris Krab with the Oregon Depriverment of Motor Vehicles
and details about the latest text message scam using the
DMV and how to avoid it. Oregon State Parks is
looking for your opinion through an online survey. They face
a fourteen percent budget shortfall in twenty twenty seven and
twenty twenty eight and they need to make changes. Stephanie
Nolton with Oregon State Parks joins us on Local Voices.
(24:08):
Stephanie tell us about the budget situation.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
We are holding study for now, but as we're looking
toward the future. The twenty twenty seven twenty twenty nine
by anem we're anticipating a fourteen percent operations budget shortfall
for the park system.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
How are Oregon Parks funded?
Speaker 3 (24:26):
That is a great question. I think that most people
would be surprised to know that we are not funded
by general fund taxes. Instead, most of our funds come
from constitutionally dedicated lottery funds and then that's about half
of our funding, and about thirty five percent comes from
park fees and visitors, and about fifteen percent of the
(24:49):
agencies comes from the agency's share of recreational vehicle license
plate fees.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
What's causing the budget shortfall.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
The gap is due to increasing costs, of course everybody's
experiencing that, and then also the impact of higher visitation.
We're seeing year over year record visitation that really does
take a toll on the system in terms of wear
and tear and aging infrastructure. And in addition, there have
been changes in lottery funds and so the percentage of
lottery funds that we get to dedicate toward perk operations
(25:19):
has decreased, and so that has had an impact on
our operations, specially so when with those three things combined,
and of course there's other financial pressures. Those are some
of the big ones that are leading to that funding
shortfall two years from now.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
What are some of the things that you look at
as far as as you know, as ways that you
can generate additional revenue.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, and that's a great question. And in terms of
generating revenue, we are raising rates. I think people have
noticed that, and there is something that we will contigue
to do to help some of those the revenue kind
of keep pace with some of those costs. In the past,
it may have gotten ten years before we would increase,
(26:05):
you know, like the maybe one of the fees, and
I think of the future, you'll probably see more frequent updates,
which is a more sustainable fundname model, and so I
think visitor fees is a piece of it, of course.
And we're also looking at the ways that we spend money,
so not cuts necessarily, but just ways that we can
streamline those costs. We operate pretty leanly already, but we
(26:29):
are looking at ways that we can, you know, operate
even more leanly to make sure that we're being the
best possible stewards of these public resources. And in addition
to that, we're looking at increasing public private partnership, so concessions.
There's some examples that we already do across the state.
For example, there's a tree climbing business that Silver Falls,
(26:52):
and there's also the Smith Creek Village which has cabins
and group rental space. They have the ranches there, and
there's also a cafe and a restaurant, And so are
there more opportunities across the state to incorporate some of
those public private partnerships in order to increase revenue. Another
thing that we're looking at is increasing the number of
(27:14):
cabins in yours. Those are wildly popular across the state,
and so are there parks that we can add additional
cabins in yours to increase that revenue as well?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
So tell us about the survey. What are you hoping
to learn from the survey?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
So we're looking we're wanting to reimagine Oregon State parks
to help build a more financially sustainable future. And so
some of the things that we're really interested in finding
out are thing is that visitors are interested in new
and existing experiences, services, amenities. And then we want to
better understand public views on public private partnership, sponsorships and
(27:49):
other funding options. As we're looking toward the future.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Who can take part in the survey everybody.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
We're hoping everybody fiells it out. So if you're an
avid parks user, if you've never been to a state park,
whoever you are, whatever, you're a relationship with Oregon State Parks,
whatever that is, now, we want to hear from you.
So we are interested in hearing from the avid visitors,
of course, because they they know those parks best. And
(28:17):
we're also interested in hearing from people who might not
have been to state parks because we're interested in what
they have to say and maybe there are things that
we can develop that entice a new generation of visitors
to come see us.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
How do people access the survey?
Speaker 3 (28:32):
And so if you go to our website and that
Stateparks dot orgon dot gov, there'll be a link on
the landing page to the park survey and people can
get to it from there. One fun thing to note
that if you do complete this survey, there's you can
enter your information for a chance to win a annual
(28:55):
parking permit. If people are interested in learning more about
some of the things that we're looking at, we'll be
posting information over the next couple of months around the
initiatives that we're looking at, and so just stay tuned
and if you're interested in supporting parks, we do have
information on our website about volunteering, about donating, about getting involved,
(29:17):
and so if that is something that's interesting to folks,
they're welcome to check out our website and see how
they can get connected.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Stephanie, thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's Stephanie
Knowlton with the Oregon State Parks on the budget shortfall
they face in twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight,
and an online survey asking for your ideas on how
Oregon State Parks can change their operations to increase revenue.
Thanks for listening to Local Voices. I'm Brad Bard. You
can hear past episodes on the iHeartRadio app under the
(29:47):
podcast tab. Local Voices is a public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio.
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