This has been designated Suicide Prevention Week in Indiana, which means its time for the state to crank out a press release but not do much else. If this is the problem:
Indiana has a higher rate of suicide than the nation as a whole. In 2002, Indiana had 12.1 suicides per 100,000 people, compared with 11 suicides per 100,000 people nationally, the coalition says. In 2002, 743 Hoosiers died by suicide, according to the coalition's Web site.
Then this is not the solution:
In response to a 2001 call to action by the U.S. surgeon general's office, the state formed the Indiana Suicide Prevention Coalition to increase awareness of suicide and educate individuals on warning signs and how to get help.
However, the coalition has a staff of only two part-time people.
Preventing suicide, when it can be done, requires the people around the person considering it to recognize the signs and know what they mean. When they think something might be up, and they need help coping with it, they need a srong, well-publicized local network that might or might not have some government-funded people on board. I'm not even sure how helpful the state can be, though it seems pretty obvious that staffing a "Suicide Prevention Bureau" two part-time people is not a serious attempt to discover that.
Comments
TO tie this into the Rodney Dangerfield post in a curiously morbid way....I quote:
"I called suicide prevention...they put me on HOLD...I don't get any respect".
Seems Rodney's humor was "ahead of the curve".
;)
B.G.
The government thinks the answer to EVERYTHING is to spend more money on it.
Mike Sylvester
Two part time workers?
How does anyone come to the conclusion that this solution would actually work? Are there no moderately-sane reviewers over any of these programs/proposals?
To Jeff Pruitt:
There are no sane reviewers.
Politicians (Dems and Reps) spend a majority of their time time trying to stay in office. They are not interested in fixing problems; they are interested in "looking good."
Mike Sylvester
Fort Wayne Libertarian
Agreed.