Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line. "And a very high good morning it is to you! Theesuz Pandra, your zuizide counzelor. What is it of you this morning that I can do. |
Posted on 05/26/2005 4:33:01 AM PDT by Air Conditioned Gypsy
Suicide hotline to open only from 9 to 5
Wed May 25, 1:59 PM ET
TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian province will shut its 24-hour suicide hotline and replace it with one that operates only during business hours.
Prince Edward Island, a small province on Canada's East Coast, says it is too expensive to operate the hotline around the clock. Starting June 1, it will be open only between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The plan drew protest from mental health groups across the country on Wednesday.
"How many times, when you get upset or worried or concerned about things, is it in the middle of the day? It's usually at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning when you wake up," said Joan Wright, executive director of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention based in Edmonton, Alberta.
The hotline received about 1,400 calls a year and about 50 were from people contemplating suicide, health groups said.
"One of the things I was hearing is the government felt there weren't enough suicide-related calls," Wright said.
Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province with a population of about 137,000 people, is trying to tame its budget deficit. The hotline cost about C$30,000 (12,965 pounds) a year to run.
"It's a very small amount of money in our view," said Reid Burke, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
"(Given) the economic cost of a suicide, if governments pay attention to dollars and numbers, not what happens to people, it just doesn't make sense."
Just damn?
"open only between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. "
Please plan your attempted suicide accordingly.
"Our office hours are 9 to 5. If this is an emergency..."
My take on suicide help, If you can't take the punches life gives you, just go down on your own, don't take other people down when you decide to go down in flames.
I'm not cruel with my comments, i just believe that if you can't handle the world of hard knocks, what can you handle?
Semper Paratus wrote:
"Our office hours are 9 to 5. If this is an emergency..."
--Sorry can't help a cheap shot: Then please press "pound" yourself after the beep. :)
I agree. I've been through a LOT in my life, but the thought of suicide has never entered my mind.
This is Canada in cards and spades. The local teen drop-in centre in downtown Toronto is open only Monday to Friday, 9-5, too. We are like clams at the mercy of the tide. We all open together and we all close together.
You can't get furniture delivered after 5:00 or on weekends except by making a really big scene; you can't make FedEx understand that 85% of the world have full time jobs and cannot be at home all day to receive a delivery M-F, 9-5; just try calling Dell Canada on weekends or after 5:00 p.m. ... the list goes on and on.
Here in the workers paradise we run for the convenience of the lowest rung of the ladder, and the customer be damned.
Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line. "And a very high good morning it is to you! Theesuz Pandra, your zuizide counzelor. What is it of you this morning that I can do. |
"Hello this is the suicide hotline. Please hold."
(I forget who originally did this.)
Leni
Do they answer the phone during their 2 hour lunch?
I HATE getting a busy signal when calling the suicide hotline.
Costs too much? Every place I've ever lived had volunteers working suicide hotlines...often from their own homes. What cost? I worked a crisis hotline when I was in college. I never got these kinds of calls during the day.
''One of the things I was hearing is the government felt there weren't enough suicide-related calls,'' Wright said.
Just hang on a bit. Canadian immigration is still processing the papers of all the depressed libs from the States.
The scene in that Burt Reynolds flick "The End" comes to mind where he gets put on hold with musiak playing when he calls the hotline. That was a funny movie. See it if you haven't yet.
The suicide hotline people don't get a lunch break. Canada has truly hit rock bottom to treat its workers like this.
" A Canadian province will shut its 24-hour suicide hotline and replace it with one that operates only during business hours."
Dare I say it?
Yeah.
Just nuts!
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