Illinois lifeline program for suicidal kids struggles amid a youth mental health crisis, staffing shortages

The emergency department at St. Bernard Hospital on the South Side is one of many where children in mental health crisis end up waiting, sometimes for days, to be transferred to one of the few hospitals in Illinois that offer psychiatric care for children. (Manuel Martinez / WBEZ)

The slight 13-year-old in an oversized white shirt sits at a round table in a sparse conference room at his school on the Southwest Side.

Randy Sadler, a paramedic of sorts for kids in emotional distress, sits across from the boy and says he has some questions. The boy’s dark brown bangs hang over his eyes. His mother and two adults from his school are there, too.