The following news snippet was taken from the Seattle P.I. news paper earlier this month:
City hopes to dissuade suicidal jumpers
Crisis information signs, call boxes will be installed along Aurora Bridge
...Apparently, it's also getting to Seattle, state and law enforcement officials, including the state Department of Transportation chief who recently made the Aurora Bridge jumper problem a top priority. While plans for a high fence or catch net have been shelved for now, one short-term proposal is moving forward.
Within the next two months, the Seattle Department of Transportation is expected to install four suicide-crisis call boxes on the Aurora Bridge along with signs reading, "Suicidal? 24 hour crisis line: (206) 461-3222." The Ship Canal Bridge, with far lower rates of jumpers, initially won't see any similar additions.
"We're aware of the number of suicides on the Aurora Bridge," said Marianne Bichsel, Mayor Greg Nickels' spokeswoman. "We've been talking about what the city can do. We really wanted to step up our effort with signs and phones."
Y'all know my back ground in Mental Health/Mental Health Law, so I feel I can say, "Doesn't the idea of the message for these signs ring of a 'Got Milk?' commercial???
Oh, yeah...and what good does it do to talk a suicidal person off a 15 story bridge if you've allocated NO MONEY for mental health follow up and treatment and continue TO CUT current spenditures for Mental Health services???...seems like a pretty big leap of faith to me. And, of course, I'M JUST SAYIN'...
6 comments:
Hon, it seems to me the only reason they don't want 'em jumping is because then the city has to pay for divers, recoverers, morgue duty, etc....
It's messy and lousy for tourism.
;)
PEEJ: You are SO right...actually, the real story behind the story is the businesses BELOW the bridge are getting tired of coming to work and finding bodies splattered all over the pavement...unfortunately, not every jumper hits the water.
LD
Seems to me that there are cheaper ways of taking care of this. Either install boxes with arsenic pills or put nets under the bridge. Either way, there are lot's of tall buildings for these poor addle minded folk to leap from. Typically, if someone really wants to off themselves, they are quite motivated and usually successful. The ones asking for help ... well jeeze, I know the emergency room in Seattle has a protocol for that.
MDMHVONPA: Geez, Mondopapa! You could do MY job!! LOL
And FYI: We in Mental Health call those successful jumpers the "3 percenters"...those are the 3% of the successful suicides mental health professionals have never had contact with. Personally, I think we should just get rid of bridges, and tall buildings, and cars that emit carbon monoxide, and rope, and guns, and medications, and....
LD
Heh ... don't forget swimming pools, cliffs and autos!
MDMHVONPA: You'd be surprised what people use or think will kill them...or perhaps KNOW won't kill them, so they try it! Oh the things I've seen...isn't that a children's book?!? LOL
LD
Post a Comment