Hospitals and county to monitor youth suicide
Grays Harbor Community Hospital and Mark Reed Emergency Departments, as well as EMS providers and Public Health, will join together to monitor suicide attempts among young people in Grays Harbor. A new reporting system hopes to give public health officials more insight into the suicidal behavior of local youth and enable mental health and public health workers to be ready to help agencies and individuals understand and respond quickly when local young people may be in distress over such an event.
“The system is modeled after a very successful effort in Oregon,” says Joan Brewster, Grays Harbor’s Public Health Director. “Some information is already available to us about deaths from suicide, but we really don’t know what is happening with suicide attempts. Understanding all of this better has helped the state of Oregon prevent youth suicides, so we think it is an important and worthwhile effort.”
The new reporting process, which applies only to hospital emergency rooms, will be in effect for one year so that the effort can be evaluated. Reporting may continue after the year if it is shown to be a benefit.
David Quigg, the Director of Public Relations for Grays Harbor Community Hospital said “We want to do whatever we can to help our community prevent youth suicide.”
The new reporting system begins on August 1.
