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Legislation would boost suicide prevention efforts |
01.20.00
[Facts about suicides in Virginia] [Suicide prevention hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE]
By Tracey Wainwright
While working in the kitchen, she didn’t hear the gunshot that killed her 17-year-old son, a victim of Virginia’s third leading killer for adolescents – suicide.
Karen Witt heard her son, a high school senior and honors student, fall in his upstairs bedroom. She didn’t realize that after target practice, Tim returned to his Richmond home with his rifle and one round of ammunition to end the depression he struggled with since age 10.
"He didn’t even measure for his cap and gown," Witt said, "and he didn’t even order a yearbook."
Over the past 25 years, suicides rose dramatically among Virginians age 10 to 19, according to a study by the Virginia Department of Health. The statistics show a 32 percent increase in suicides by young people since 1975.
Alarmed by the trend, senators during the 1999 General Assembly directed the department to study suicides in Virginia, including causes and prevention.
For the General Assembly session that opened last week, Sen. Bill Mims, R-Leesburg, has introduced legislation to combat suicide in the state, especially among youth. His bill would combine the suicide prevention efforts of several state agencies: the Commission on Youth; the Department of Education; the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services; and the Department of Health.
"This partnership will save lives," said Mims, chief patron of the legislation, which would provide $1 million to fund efforts of the departments. If the Legislature agrees, the health department would receive $750,000 and the mental health agency $250,000 for each of the next two years.
Mims said his legislation also would help the state publicize the health department’s findings and give resources to local agencies and private organizations for suicide prevention.
Sen. Bill Bolling, R-Mechanicsville, said he supports suicide prevention efforts.
"Any reasonable program that helps address the concern of youth suicide is very worthwhile," Bolling said. "I think the reality is the world that our children are growing up in today is a very much different world we grew up in 20 or 30 years ago, with more pressures and distractions. It seems far more children are growing up with far less parental influence and are exposed to far more examples of violence."
With statistics showing that two people, on average, die each day from suicide in the state, such concerned citizens as Reese Butler decided to privately fund suicide prevention efforts.
After his wife committed suicide a year ago from postpartum depression, Butler said, he used the insurance money to open a suicide hotline that connects crisis centers in Virginia. Through 1-800-SUICIDE, Virginians can reach the nearest help center, instead of having to look up phone numbers or pay for a long-distance call.
"I have petitions signed by voters to be given to Governor Gilmore to let him know we want to have suicide prevention on the top of the priority list," Butler said. "But we need the funds, resources and political will to make it happen."
Some legislators gave their own testimonies of suicide. A supporter of Mims’ legislation, Delegate Riley Ingram, recalled when his mother took her own life on July 14, 1960, while he completed basic training at Fort Knox, Ky.
"I honestly believe it (suicide) could be prevented," said Ingram, a Republican from Hopewell. "I think it is something all of us could be better toward."
Along with Ingram, five other legislators gave their support for the legislation: Delegate Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News; Delegate Mary Christian, D-Hampton; Delegate Joe May, R-Loudoun; Sen. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania; and Sen. Linda "Toddy" Puller, D-Fairfax.
It ranks as the third leading cause of death among adolescents.
There are 25 suicide attempts for every suicide.
90 percent of adolescent suicide victims experienced depression or another diagnosable mental illness at the time of death.
White teens commit suicide more often than non-whites. The suicide rate among non-whites, however, is rising faster than that among whites. (In 1997, more than five per 100,000 non-whites died from suicide, in 1975, the rate was less than one per 100,000.)
Source: Virginia Department of Health