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."
Nah, it's usually when Oprah is on, so this change is probably OK. ;)
These are not the hours when people typically contemplate suicide.
I once called a suicide hotline when I was suicidal and the phone just rang and rang, nobody answered. Maybe they were on break.
This is Canada, so option 4 would be:
Pour le Français, pression quatre
There's an SNL skit in this one somewhere...
Haven't seen that movie in years, but it was hilarious! I loved Dom DeLouise as the psycho who tries to help Burt commit suicide.
Those crazy canucks!
LoL
This 9 to 5 thing is pure crap. During the day, a person is usually busy. It's the loneliness of night when it's easy to give in to those suicidal thoughts.
My grandfather hanged himself -- meant to be a cry for help but apparently he mistook a car pulling into the driveway as one of his sons, and it turned out to be someone else. I do not think it was between the hours of 9 and 5.
Canada is a laboratory experiment of some kind. It's kind of like having a ringside seat at a train wreck. You really do have to wonder how a whole country could end up like this. But then again, you have to wonder why they have only 10% of the population that the US has, and half of that 10% is trying to get into the USA one way or another.
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