Newspaper Page Text
SIS sRS PO
- FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2013
FROMIA
Suicide
Over the past 10 years, he's
been summoned to 148 scenes
where people took their own
lives.
“You always wish you could
get to somebody and talk to
them and let them find out that
life is really not that bad,”
McDonald said. “I just wish we
could help people and let them
know there’s help for them.”
A call for lulcm
Every suicide threat that
comes in to Forsyth County
911 is taken seriously.
Thankfully though, most end
peacefully.
The information given on the
phone determines how many
people and what types of first
responders will be sent.
“Any threat of suicide, we
consider it a dangerous scene,”
said Jason Shivers, Forsyth
County Fire Department divi
sion chief.
Law enforcement personnel
make first contact for the safety
of everyone involved, Shivers
said, while the emergency med
ical technicians and fire person
nel stand by.
“The more activity that you
send to an incident typically
will make it worse,” he said.
“We don’t want to aggravate
the situation, and we’re not
going to commit resources to
something that’s still yet to
happen.”
Threats rarely turn into
attempts, which is when the
medical and fire personnel
more often need to get
involved, he said.
The sheriff’s office typically
sends a minimum of one deputy
and one supervisor to a threat
call, depending on the situation,
said Capt. Mark Flowers, head
of the north precinct’s uniform
patrol division.
“The majority of the time on
your threats, all we’ve got to do
is go and talk to them,” Flowers
said. “They usually go with the
medical personnel to get help.
That’s our No. 1 priority is to
get them help.”
If people don’t want to leave
and show signs of endangering
themselves or others, the law
allows deputies to take people
into custody. They will be taken
to an emergency receiving
facility for psychiatric care.
Flowers said the calls for
threats usually increase during
the holiday season. And in
recent years, those threats have
gone up as the economy has
been unstable.
“People are hurting trying to
get by,” he said, “and there’s a
lot of stress on people.”
He said collection agencies
share a portion of those threat
‘reports, as a person in debt may
threaten to harm themselves
when faced with a call or visit
from a collector.
Through the years
Suicides by year: ©2OOB — 15
02002 -7 ©2009 — 22
2003 — 6 ©2OIO — 23
02004 — 7 ©2Oll — 15
©2005 — 1 ©2012— M
©2006 — 10
©2007 — 21 Total: 148
Note: Murder-suicides occurred in 2003, 2006 and 2012
Source: Forsyth County Sheriff's Office
’__—_'i P TIR
oi°
B PR
Pt
A%
P |
Limited Time _
Special Introductory Pricing on ZStarkey
Starkey Wireless Technology = e
| EASY FINANCING :
| AVAILABLE with $0
DOWN & PAYMENTS AS "
LOW AS $35/month
706-867-7285
Dahlonega
Hearing ; ‘ 'l’lll'gtims
Aid Center { [ e
We accept: y Instrument
SR : Specialist
81 Crown Mountain Place * Bidg. B, Suite 300, Dahlonega, GA
www.dahlonegahearingaidcenter.com
Contact
*» Georgia Crisis & Access .
Line: (800) 715-4226
* Suicide Prevention Lifeline:
(800) 273-8255
* Avita Community Partners:
(678) 341-3840
Source: National Alliance on
Mental lliness: Forsyth-Dawson-
Lumpkin
In the case of an attempt,
Flowers said the sheriff’s office
must also respond with emer
gency medical technicians and
the fire department to ensure
the safety of all involved in
what can be a volatile situation,
When a suicide call comes
through, the sheriff’s office
must investigate the death to
ensure no foul play.
In his former role as coroner,
McDonald said he never
assumed a death was a suicide
unless it was something obvi
ous, such as when a person
used a gun or left a note.
When someone uses a gun,
McDonald said it’s usually
clear the person intended to
take their own life.
But when it comes to pills, it
could be a way to get attention
or it could be an honest mistake
of mixing medications or for- -
getting doses.
Following a suicide, it’s those
still alive who are left in the
wake. .
At the sheriff’s office, two
full-time victim advocates help
families deal with a suicide
when possible.
Rosetta Smith, who'’s been a
victim advocate with the county
for more than three years, said
it’s mostly about “giving
resources to family members,
grieving counseling resources.”
“We will stay with the family
member until other family can
come and be with them, we’ll
contact their church ... or any
other family members that they
just can’t call themselves
because they’re too emotional,”
she said. “We basically hold
their hand through it all.
“We answer their questions
... and we lead them in the
right direction. We’re mostly
there for the family.”
Smith said she and the other
advocate often also assist at a
crime scene so family members
can focus on their lost loved
one.
Working through crisis
Nearly 1 million people in
the United States make a sui
cide attempt each year, accord
ing to the Centers for Disease
Control.
In Forsyth County, 101 tried
to take their own lives in 2012
and 138 threatened to do so.
In the case of attempts or
some threats, those who are
(g‘\_‘\ - ’\\
s Bub
¥S | ‘
Indoor Gun Range
Firearm & Self Defense Training Classes
5 il w‘;ma i :
S o .
:W:% rB L : E -!‘:-:l‘a ) D.“I
M g B
b B Ao soW oL G
Gunsmith Services of O
Online Catalog o
Full Retail Store (8] 8 133
L
Bulls Eve Marksman Open ™ Davs a Week!
QR R S T Mon. - ¥ri. Ilam - 9pin
Sat, Qam - Ypm Sun. Ipm - Gpm
Cumming. GA 30040
SRR -lr
. ‘ ?'Q § Em"u
o ¢ <
WWW.BULTSEYEMARKSMAN.COM
Resources .
Survivors of Suicide Support Group meetings are 6:30 to 8 p.m. the first Thursday
of each month at the Warehouse, at Midway Park/Family Festival. The meetings are free,
confidential and open to anyone who has lost a friend or loved one to suicide. For more
information, call Karen at (770) 3566-1024 or Sherry at (404) 660-0907.
+The National Alliance on Mental lliness, offers two local support groups (for families
and peers). Meetings are from 7to 8:30 p.m. the second and last Thursday of each
month at the Forsyth County Senior Center, 596 Dahlonega Hwy. For more information,
go online at www.namifdl.org or call (770) 406-8322.The help line is (800) 950-6264.
« Appalachian Family Services Inc. offers a free support group for depressed individ
uals. The group meets at 7 p.m. the fourth Thursday of each month at Northside
Hospital-Cherokee in Canton. Other free support groups are also available, Trained facil
itators lead all support groups. AFSI is a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency providing community
mental health services. For information, call (770) 592-6515.
taken to Northside Hospital-
Forsyth are sent to inpatient
mental health for intervention,
said spokeswoman Katherine
Watson.
The hospital has a mobile
assessment team from the
Laurelwood center in
Gainesville that performs an
evaluation and can place the
patient in a facility.
“While at the appropriate
facility, the mental health team
makes arrangements for follow
up care with outpatient centers
that deal with depression,” she
said. “These centers and facili
ties are chosen based on each
patient’s specific needs.”
Adam Raulerson, a manager
at Laurelwood, said its primary
role in a suicide attempt or
threat situations is to stabilize a
person’s current crisis.
“We do that through medica
tion management and then we
help to identify what their
stressors are, and then help
them develop the coping skills
necessary to maintain daily
functioning,” Raulerson said.
The average length of stay at
Laurelwood is about four days,
but the staff then recommends
resources to cope with the
cause, often a mental illness.
Since the facility treats only
those who have reached that
crisis point, Raulerson said he
hasn’t seen an increase. He has,
however, detected some com
mon threads in what drives a
person to consider suicide.
Recently, stress related to
financial situations, such as job
or home loss, has been a com
mon factor in several suicide
threats or attempts.
“What’s happening globally
in our economic situation has
an impact on people’s mental
health,” Raulerson said.
Factors are case specific, but
often a threat can be “a cry for
help,” he said, and so all threats
should be taken seriously.
“I think it’s a misconception
that if someone threatens to
harm themselves, they really
aren’t serious about it,” he said.
“We have to take those things
seriously because the guilt of
not responding and the person
actually committing suicide,
that’s more of a burden than I
want to bear.”
According to Raulerson, peo
ple should be sensitive to chang
es in someone, especially if they
hint in conversation about death
forsythnews.com | FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS |
By the numbers
Suicide threats and attempts over the past decade:
#2002 —27 suicide threats, 35 attempts
© 2003 —44 threats, 21 attempts
©2004 —56 threats, 69 attempts
* 2005 —B6 threats, 68 attempts
#2006 —77 threats, 72 attempts
©2007 —99 threats, 68 attempts
2008 — 112 threats, 111 attempts
©2009 — 105 threats, 104 attempts
©2OIO — 113 threats, 79 attempts
*2Oll — 102 threats, 66 attempts
©2012 — 138 threats, 101 attempts
Total — 956 threats, 794 attempts
Source: Forsyth County Sheriffs Office
or others being happier without
them around. It’s important not
to overreact but to seriously
approach the threat and get help
for a loved one.
A societal stigma in discuss
ing suicide and mental illness
may cause someone to sidestep
the uncomfortable topic,
Raulerson said.
“Suicide is just something
that’s not being talked about,” he
said. “It’s beginning to be talked
about more and more, but it’s
almost like we want to avoid ’
that conversation because we
don’t want to know that people
are that depressed or have gotten
to a point where they feel like
killing themselves is a better
alternative.”
Faces, not facts
In the past 10 years, 117 men
and 31 women have taken their
own lives in Forsyth.
The average age is about 45
years old, and the median is 44.
Gunshot has been the most
used method with 98 of those
people choosing a firearm, fol
lowed by 31 hangings and seven
drug overdoses.
The numbers, though, are just
that — numbers.
Karen Copija sees them. The
sheriff’s office employee sends
all required local crime statistics
to the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation.
She began paying special
attention to tracking the suicide
figures in 2006. That’s when
her 16-year-old son, Kyle, took
his own life.
Copija has since gotten
involved with helping others
through the situation of losing a
loved one to suicide as one of
the facilitators of a Survivors of
Suicide support group in
Cumming.
Now, she sees some of the
faces, not just names and num
bers.
“I’ll recognize the name and
then they’ll start talking about
the story behind it,” Copija
said. “Often times, it’s because
of a relationship, they're getting
a divorce, or they’ve lost their
job and are struggling finan
cially.
“But there’s no one thing that
o
B [FLACK'S
B |FLOORING co.
Large selection of high-quality
carpet tile, friezes, berbers,
and plush carpets.
Also, great selection of
hardwoods, laminates & vinyl
Dalton Prices Without The Drive
770.889.9753
DELIVERY & INSTALLATION AVAILABLE!
5750 GA Hwy 400, Cumming
e W] | P e i
www.flacksflooring.com
3A
typically will cause a suicide.
Ninety percent of the people
that die by suicide have an
undiagnosed mental disorder,
[according to the CDC] and
usually it’s depression.”
Copija is one of three facili
tators in the local group, which
has seen more people at meet
ings since its formation in April
2011.
Sherry Unwala, who also
runs the local SOS, said the
group helps people through the
difficult and unique emotions
of suicide.
“This is not a normal death,”
Unwala said. “It’s not an acci
dent. It’s not an illness. The
person decided to take their
own life.”
The group continues to see
new members who bond over
those shared emotions and give
each other support. The new
faces of survivors seem to show
up each meeting, Unwala said.
It’s a bittersweet occurrence.
Another survivor means
another suicide, but it also
means people have the courage
to seek help in the wake of such
a death.
“It’s sad, but we’re glad
we’re there for them,” Unwala
said. “We become like a fami
ly”
Unwala lost her son, Karl, to
suicide in 2008. He was 26.
The pain of the loss is devastat
ing, but his passing created a
new path in her life.
Like Copija, she has become
someone who can help others
through their struggles and an
advocate for suicide prevention
and awareness for mental ill
ness — topics that those who
haven’t experienced the loss
may not be willing to discuss.
“Before I lost Kyle, it would
have made me uncomfortable
to talk about it, to ask about it,”
Copija said. “Sometimes, peo
ple that know me don’t want to
talk about it or talk about Kyle,
per se, because they think it’s
going to upset me.
“It doesn’t upset me. There’s
such a stigma attached to sui
cide, but we’ve got to get past
the stigma to talk about it.”
Staff writer Jennifer Sami contrib
uted to this report.