RSS
Suicide hotline back in action.
The other day I mentioned a government decision to limit the hours of a suicide hotline to between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
It seems that the government has rethought that decision and will keep the suicide hotline open 24 hours a day. Perhaps their decision was motivated by embarrassment:
Yesterday, CNN's American Morning crew jumped on the item.The statistics on suicide were surprising:Makes perfect sense, crusty anchor Jack Cafferty told millions of viewers around the world. When are you most likely to be troubled by something? Noon on Tuesday, right? When you're all alone in the middle of the night, the suicide thing will be closed.
However, Prince Edward Island is apparently a happy place. The hot line only gets 50 suicide-related calls a year. The officials hope they'll all come during the day.
That is not a great way to be on CNN, winced one Islander familiar with the comings and goings in the provincial legislature. We should be on CNN for our great golf courses, not cancelling the suicide hot line.
In Canada, suicide accounts for 24 per cent of all deaths among 15- to 24-year-olds, and 16 per cent of deaths among 25- to 44-year-olds, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association, which does not break figures down by province.