WASHINGTON — With all of the stories about robocalls and phone scams, it can be hard to know if something is actually legitimate. That is why a call about a Washington State Health Survey seemed questionable.
"I'm calling on behalf of the Washington State Department of Health to conduct an important on the health of Washington residents,” the caller stated.
Although you may not have heard about it, the Washington State Department of Health has been conducting a health survey over the phone for about 20 years. It is called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
The survey is conducted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and every state health department participates, so you may get a call whether you live in Washington or Oregon. The health departments call numbers at random. The survey is anonymous and confidential.
However, because of all the robocalls and phone scams that exist now, Mark Serafin with the Washington State Department of Health said it is hard to get people to believe them.
“The one we get a lot is, are you guys for real?” Serafin said.
For the Washington Health Survey the number that shows up on the caller ID is 206-224-0125. If you do a Google search of the number, you will find posts from people questioning whether or not this is a scam. But again, it is legitimate.
“And then sometimes you have to try and convince them over the phone, yes, I really do work for the Washington State Department of Health,” Serafin explained.
The survey asks you questions about your health, such do you smoke, do you have diabetes, or health insurance, for example. It takes about 25 minutes to complete, so it is a long one. Here is why health officials say you should take it.
“Because public health is trying to keep you from getting sick or dying from unnecessary reasons and we need the information to help us do that,” Serafin said.
The CDC and state health departments use your answers to identify health trends and then create programs to help address whatever is going on.
“So, if we found like, 'Hey, Ferry County has really high asthma rates, what's going on there?' We provide the state with, 'Hey, this is a problem here and somebody else tries to figure out what it is,'" Serafin said.
You will still want to verify it is the health department calling and not an impostor. You can do this by checking the phone number online or do not answer and see if they leave a message. The people taking the survey will leave a message with a number to call back that belongs to the health department. You can also call 1-866-784-7151 to get more information about the survey.