November 19, 2011 Montgomery County suicide rate jumps 40% in one year www.privateofficer.com
Dayton OH Nov 19 2011 The number of suicides in Montgomery County jumped in 2010 and is trending high again this year, a development that has local suicide prevention advocates alarmed.
In 2010, 105 people in Montgomery County died by suicide — an average of two a week. That was a 40 percent increase over the previous year.
The upward trend has continued this year, with 83 suicide deaths in the county through Oct. 31, a significant increase over the yearly average of 69 between 2001 and 2009.
“This is a call to action for everyone to be aware of what is going on in this community,” Eddie Allen, chairman of the Montgomery County Suicide Prevention Coalition said. “Listen to people who hurt. Listen with your heart and you’ll feel their pain.”
Ken Betz, director of the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, said the group includes individuals who suffered from depression, young adults involved with relationship break-ups and senior citizens.
He said about a dozen suicide notes mentioned job loss or economic insecurity.
Tricia Marks, president and CEO of the Suicide Prevention Center Inc., which answers crisis calls from the 937 and 513 area codes, said calls have increased from 3,200 to 4,000 a month since the start of the economic downturn.
“It’s loss of job, loss of business, loss of home,” she said. “Many of our clients have had their cars repossessed.”
There are three high-risk age groups in this area: youth ages 14 to 25, men and women 65 and older and men 35 to 55.
Carolyn Givens, executive director of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, said there is no one reason behind a suicide.
“There are usually multiple factors,” she said. “When you’re living a dysfunctional life, it’s like trying to keep the plates on a spindle spinning.”
Givens calls suicide an urgent health concern in Ohio that should be recognized as a public health issue, not a character flaw. About 1,300 Ohioans die on average each year from suicide, Givens said. About 90 percent had an undiagnosed or under-treated mental illness and/or substance use disorder,
“I’m concerned the numbers are really under reported,” Givens said. “My mission is to make sure we get information into the hands who need it, so we can divert an attempt.”
Ohio’s average annual medical cost for each suicide is $3.9 million, according to the Center for Disease Control.
The Montgomery County Suicide Prevention Coalition will hold its first Survivors of Suicide Memorial today at 10:30 a.m. outside Fifth Third Field in downtown Dayton. The public is invited.
The memorial brings together individuals who have lost a loved one to suicide for mutual support and to remember the 110 Montgomery County citizens who died by their own hand between July 2010 and July 2011.
“Suicide touches every community in Montgomery County,” Beverly Jones-Arthur, director of behavioral health operations for Montgomery County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board said.
The oldest person to be remembered is an 86-year-old Clayton resident. The youngest, a 15-year-old from Dayton. Thirty-one of the deaths involved a Dayton resident, with 41 residing in the county’s south suburbs, including 10 each from Miami Twp. and Kettering. All but 17 were males and most were white.
Allen, who has worked as a trauma counselor and also is a member of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation Board, said depression can be a key indicator that a person is at risk.
“If a person has attempted suicide before, they’re talking about it, writing about it, listening to morbid music, they’re detached from the past, withdrawn, I’m troubled by those,” he said. “If they’ve been depressed, then suddenly get real happy, they many have made up their mind.”
Family members of those who have died urge others to be mindful of the warning signs.
Beth Ann Corcoran, established a habit in her preteen years of making dinner dates with her dad, the Rev. John Corcoran of Miamisburg, whenever she needed to talk. Their conversations were lively, with one trying to out wit the other, John Corcoran said Wednesday.
He wasn’t alarmed when she dropped by one day to set up a luncheon date. When he called the following day to confirm the meeting once, twice, then three times, the 29-year-old never answered. She had died of a self-inflected gun shot wound.
“It’ll be 11 years in January,” said Corcoran, pastor of the Rejoicing Life Church of God in Miamisburg and a member of the Montgomery County Suicide Prevention Coalition.
Corcoran, a licensed addiction therapist and a grief counselor, said he has replayed those final days with his daughter searching for warning signs, but found few. When his own grief turned to depression after her death, he sought help. It’s important for survivors — people left grieving after a suicide — not to be ashamed or fearful of seeking treatment for themselves.
“There is going to be pain. You have to accept that and work through it,” Corcoran said. He also offered advice to anyone who fears a loved one might need help. “If someone expresses they aren’t having a good day, stick around. Talk to them. If they show definite signs of suicide, you need to have the courage to take them to a hospital or therapist.”
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255 is staffed 24/7, can be used anywhere in the U.S.
Source:Dayton Daily News
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