WPCNR The Daily Bailey. News Comment By John F. Bailey. July 11, 2007: In the last seven days there have been three suicide attempts: two fatalities, one woman leaped off the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, another 40 year old man jumped off the roof of the Westchester Mall, and a teenager was pulled back from jumping off the Tappan Zee Bridge yesterday. 

There are a great number of resources available to the person who has gotten to the point where they feel they want to kill themselves in Westchester County.  The county operates a suicide hotline 24 hours a day, where you can talk to some one, that one last time to give you a tomorrow. That number is 914-347-6400. Write it down. And when the panic sets in call that number on your cellphone.

It is a Life Line, among the many services that exist to help persons who are driven to what drove those three persons in the last week to take their lives. Don't feel guilty. They are the last person left for you and you need to give them and yourself a chance.

When this number is called, the person handling the call will try and determine what has the distraught person in distress and whether or not they are suicidal, according to Mary DeVivo, Coordinator of Community Education of the Department of County Mental Health. Ms. DeVivo said if the person appears to be in suicidal state of mind a Westchester County Crisis Team (of the Westchester County Medical Center) will be sent to them immediately, consisting of a psychiatrist, social worker and therapist to deal with their present anxiety, whether or not they need hospitalization immediately, for example, while attempting to set up an arrangement for future treatment of their sources of distress. DeVivo said questions of payment, aid and sources of potential treatment will be dealt with in the future in order that the person can be treated without increasing their anxiety or fear.

Ms. DeVivo told WPCNR that the County Department of  Mental Health website at www.westchestergov.commentalhealth maintains a series of resources, for persons undergoing stress in their life, or if they know of someone who is suffering from different sources  of depression, including post-partum depression and psychiatric disorders. The Psychiatric Emergency Number is 914-493-7075.

43,350 at risk of Depression

 The County Department of Mental Health estimates 43,350 persons will be effected by depression this year. The Department has formed a  Depression Support Network, which may be contacted at 914-995-5236 for advice and free referrals to help persons coping with depression brought about by death, a departure of a family member, job anxiety, or whatever may be causing that hopeless feeling. The Network can help a person decide if indeed they are suffering from depression.

Of course, the Mental Health website notes persons may be reluctant to ask for help, or admit they have a problem, for fear of embarrassing themselves. A national website www.suicide.com addresses this problem presenting arguments as to why if you’re feeling depressed or suicidal you should definitely call someone and share those feelings before taking your own life. There advice on why you should make the call is compelling. Please visit them.

The Suicide website maintains two hotlines operated nationwide by volunteers, state-by-state, the first is 1-800-273-TALK, and the second is 1-800-SUICIDE.

Suicide Rates down from twenty years ago.

According to Dr. Millard Hyland, the Westchester County Medical Examiner, suicides in Westchester County have declined in the county since he arrived in the 1980s in the Medical Examiner’s Office. Hyland told WPCNR today that the county averaged 80 suicides a year then, while averaging 55 to 60 a year in the first part of this decade. Dr. Hyland said the number of suicides for 2006 and 2007 have not been compiled yet. He said based on his analysis of the first six months of 2006, the suicide victims appear evenly divided among various age groups.

The suicides in 2003, 2004 and 2005, according to statistics provided by Dr. Hyland to WPCNR show
they are evenly divided among all age groups.

SUICIDES 2003, 2004, 2005

2005                       2004                  2003

By Age                  By Age               By Age

10-19 ----4                  4                       3

20-29 ----13               7                       8                      

 30-39---- 7               10                         9

40-49----  9                16                      9

50-59----- 8                15                     8

60-69 ---- 6                 4                      7

70-79 ----  6               2                       5

80+ ------   4               3                      5

TOTAL      57             61                 54  

Source, Westchester County Medical Examiner, 2007

A Story....

I knew one person at a young age who contemplated suicide in college. That person had dug himself into a very embarrassing position on an academic assignment, which if they did not complete it would prevent him from graduating college and cause them considerable grief with his parents and family.  He had five weeks before graduating and owed a 150-page paper he had not started to graduate.

He told me that he, in contemplating ending his life, considered that as soon as he did so, he would regret it. He had considered throwing himself in front of a train. There were no suicide hotlines in those days.

When he thougt hard about his end beside the New York Central Tracks in Central Ohio, waiting for the Express to Cleveland, which he loved to watch  he felt that as soon as he had thrown himself in front of the train he would want to get out of the way and it would hurt very much.  The person told me he resolved to be tough and write the paper in three weeks.

He did.

This did not seem worthwhile killing oneself over a term paper being due. However, the crises that drive a person – young or old -- to contemplate suicide seem very overwhelming at the time. That person I spoke of did not feel he had anyone to talk to about it. Felt he could not talk to his parents about it, and did not want to disappoint them. He was able to work it out mentally for himself that he had to make a go of it, because he thought his death would hurt his parents more than his failing to graduate. He taught himself that looking at the railroad track that dark night 45 years ago.

Unfortunately not all can work through these crises themselves. No matter how old we are.

WPCNR seriously recommends reaching out to some of these hotlines if you know of someone you are worried about, and want advice on how you can help them.  Or if you are someone in trouble, please call one of these county hotlines, before the mental panic takes over.

A life is a terrible thing to take.  It is also a wonderful thing you should not throw away.

Many of us make mistakes, get into trouble, and feels at times there is no way out except to end life.

But that’s when you have reach out and pick up a phone and just talk and kill the panic, not someone else, and not yourself. It's dispair that makes you fling yourself into oblivion, pull the trigger, slip the noose, overdose.

Make the call.