FISHERS — As the pandemic continues and Hoosiers have questions, one Central Indiana city is working to provide answers.
“We are all learning about it at the same time,” Molly Connolly, Director of Employee and Customer Success for the City of Fishers, said.
The city launched a hotline at the beginning of the pandemic and so far it has answered over 17,000 calls.
“When the pandemic first started, the mayor called us in and let us know how we would proceed, and I was tasked with starting a COVID-19 Hotline,” Connolly said.
Connolly worked with the City’s Public Relations Team and the IT team to invent a phone number and a call line process.
Connolly says that when the hotline first started, it was all hands-on deck with everyone from customer service to the parks department working the phone lines to answer questions.
The hotline first started as a 24-hour hotline with everyone taking a 24 hour shift.
Connolly would answer the phone calls late at night while working from home. Sometimes, her young children would even answer their Elmo telephone the same way she would answer the hotline.
Now, the hotline is staffed by four people and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. with the staff checking voicemails on the weekends.
“It’s been really rewarding the last year and a half to be there for people. I know sometimes it’s just little things, but I can tell the relief when someone calls and they say I don’t know what I’m doing or don’t know how to schedule myself and I can just help them,” Rocio Kirby, another hotline worker, said. “You never know what that phone call is going to be, it could be anything."
The hotline is available to all Hoosiers. You can contact the hotline at 317-595-3211 or by clicking here.
