State focuses on suicide prevention

MUNCIE — Suicide is the second leading cause of injury death in Indiana after traffic accidents, and state officials are encouraging Hoosiers to learn how to prevent it.\nGov. Mitch Daniels has proclaimed Sept. 10-16 Suicide Prevention Week in Indiana.\n"Suicide has a devastating effect on families and communities throughout Indiana," said Loren Robertson, assistant state health commissioner for Community and Family Health Services. "Suicide is a public health issue, and it is often preventable. "\nIn 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 to educate individuals on warning signs and how to get help.\nHowever, the coalition has a staff of only two people, both working part-time.\nWith a small budget, "we choose to focus our energy on prevention and programming more than the research part," said Colleen Carpenter, project coordinator for the coalition.\nIndiana 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, according to the coalition.\nExperts cite various causes for suicide, including substance abuse and mental health problems.\n"People involved (in suicides) usually have a combination of problems," Delaware County Coroner Jim Clevenger said.\nIn many cases, victims have just lost a loved one or their job, Clevenger said. Some have had relationship problems or a history of depression.\nClevenger said he and other coroners are frustrated that the nature of their jobs leaves them no way to help victims before they commit suicide.\n"We coroners get involved with the family. We're sometimes the ones who tell them they've lost a loved one," he said. "We show up, and no matter how good a job we do, we can't do anything else. We must leave them and go to the next death investigation."\nThe survivors carry with them the pain of having lost a loved one. Brian Young, 27, of Muncie lost his father to suicide five years ago on a day that the two were supposed to go fishing.\nNothing has been the same for Young in the five years since, he said.\n"I think about him every day," he said. "It just seems like a bad dream"