23 June 2006

County's suicidal deaths in 2005 increase to 168.

The number of suicidal deaths in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, again increased in 2005 to 168, a 4% increase from the 162 suicidal deaths in 2004. These two yearly increases follow a marked decline in 2003 to the lowest number in nearly 60 years. MHS monitors trends in suicidal deaths because our Mobile Crisis Team provides Cuyahoga County, Ohio, with 24/7 hotline, suicide prevention, and crisis outreach services. The Mobile Crisis Team is an American Association of Suicidology-approved crisis intervention program.

The Cuyahoga County's Coroner's Office released preliminary data to MHS while preparing its 2005 Statistical Report. The bar graph above presents the trend in the annual number of suicidal deaths in the County during the past 27 years. The average number of suicidal deaths during that period was 182. The highest number was 276, recorded in 1979; the lowest was 133, in the year 2004.

Suicide rate of county exceeds that of nation or state.

Cuyahoga County's rate of suicidal deaths is considerably higher than national and state rates. In 2005, Cuyahoga County had 12.6 suicidal deaths per 100,000 people. The most recently-published national data is for the year 2003, showing a national rate of suicidal deaths of 10.8 per 100,000. This national rate has varied little during the past five years. Among all the states in that year, Ohio ranked 40th, with a rate of suicidal deaths of 9.4 per 100,000. Therefore, Cuyahoga County's 2005 rate of 12.6 suicidal deaths per 100,000 is 17% higher than the most recently-available national rate, and 34% higher than the state of Ohio's rate.

Calls to Mobile Crisis Team increase
after Cuyahoga County implements its suicide prevention plan.

MHS staff members have been working with the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board to implement the County's suicide prevention plan. An important part of this plan is a public information campaign designed to increase community awareness of the 24/7 suicide hotline and crisis services provided by the MHS Mobile Crisis Team. This campaign has placed billboards and placards, similar to the example shown below, throughout Cuyahoga County. The telephone number on the actual billboards and placards is the local number of the Mobile Crisis Team, 216-623-6888. (Calls to 1-800-Suicide from Cuyahoga County are automatically forwarded to the Mobile Crisis Team.)

The total number of new crisis calls to our Mobile Crisis Team, and the number of those calls in which suicide was the caller's primary concern, have increased since the public information campaign began in mid February 2005. As shown in the bar-graph below, during the fifteen months (March 2005 to May 2006) since the campaign began, the average monthly number of new calls in which suicide was the caller's primary concern (the red vertical bars) was 393. This is 27% higher than the average monthly number of suicidal calls for the fifteen months (November 2003 to January 2005) before the start of the public information campaign. The average monthly number of total new crisis calls (represented by the blue bars) to the Mobile Crisis Team increased 6% (from 1,027 to 1,089) after the campaign began.

The increased number of calls is encouraging, because it suggests that efforts to increase public awareness of suicide prevention resources in the community do, in fact, result in greater use of those resources. The best indication of effectiveness would, of course, be a decrease in the County's suicide rate in future years. We will continue our work with the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board to evaluate the effectiveness of the County's suicide prevention plan, and to plan future prevention activities.

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Copyright (c) 2006
Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, Inc. (MHS)
All Rights Reserved.
MHS, 1736 Superior Avenue East, Cleveland, Ohio 44114-2944 U.S.A.
Voice - 216-623-6555 / TDD - 216-623-6540

Julie Rittenhouse, President, Board of Trustees
Steven M. Friedman, Ph.D., Executive Director

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