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11-22-2006, 01:41 AM
Callers say suicide hot line put them on hold
Crisis Clinic stunned by allegations
By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER
As the city of Seattle begins to install suicide hot lines on the Aurora Bridge in an effort to reduce the number of jumpers, one crisis counselor offered a stark, critical assessment of the current prevention system's limitations.
"I called the hot line. I was put on hold," said Karen Wyome, a medical social worker for Swedish Family Medicine. "I had a client in an emergency situation, and I wanted to confer with a clinical supervisor. Whoever answered the phone didn't wait to hear that, or if I was suicidal.
"They just put me on hold. Immediately. This happened twice in the past six months."
Don Kuch, clinical supervisor for the Crisis Clinic, which oversees the hot line, said he was shocked by the story. "I can't imagine how that would have happened," he said. "Could she have called our business line?"
No, Wyome responded. "It was beyond the pale to me."
Another counselor offered a similar assessment. She said one of her clients called the hot line and was immediately made to wait. It was a non-emergency call, said the counselor, who asked to remain anonymous. "But what if it was? What if she had been on the bridge?"
Kuch said he can't imagine any of the volunteers who staff the lines putting a caller on hold -- unless they had cleared it as a non-emergency.
The crisis line receives about 250 calls a day. About five trained volunteers staff the lines during the day, with two to three at night.
A little more than one call out of every 10 is someone threatening suicide. Inexplicably, call volume soared in 2005 with 93,021 -- nearly 10,000 more calls than the previous year.
"We've noticed no trends that would explain that (increase)," Kuch said.
Wyome, who has worked in Seattle as a clinical social worker since 1994, said she hoped the routing of her call was a fluke. "The fact that a program would allow any hot line calls to go on hold would make me suspect their clinical judgment."
The city, after meeting with law enforcement and public health officials, decided in September to install the hot lines at the bridge's four pedestrian entrances. Most years, four people jump to their deaths from the bridge.
This year, the city was on pace to set a record with seven, one shy of the previous record.
City officials were not just concerned solely with the jumpers but also the people below the bridges who had complained about bodies falling into parking lots and onto cars.
Declining to install physical barriers, such as a net, as likely to inhibit bridge inspection, city officials and suicide-prevention experts hope that a final chance with a dissuading voice will turn jumpers away.
Authorities in San Francisco have said that hot lines on the Golden Gate Bridge helped stop potential jumpers.
Kuch said, "If we go to three a year from four, it will be worth it."
The phone boxes will contain two buttons: one for the suicide hot line, the other for standard 911.
They are expected to be operational in early December.
Marty McOmber, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels, said he hopes that the "on-hold" issue is a fluke.
"Obviously, that's not something you want to hear," he said. "But there are going to be two buttons on the phone, so someone will be on the other end at all times."
Crisis Clinic stunned by allegations
By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER
As the city of Seattle begins to install suicide hot lines on the Aurora Bridge in an effort to reduce the number of jumpers, one crisis counselor offered a stark, critical assessment of the current prevention system's limitations.
"I called the hot line. I was put on hold," said Karen Wyome, a medical social worker for Swedish Family Medicine. "I had a client in an emergency situation, and I wanted to confer with a clinical supervisor. Whoever answered the phone didn't wait to hear that, or if I was suicidal.
"They just put me on hold. Immediately. This happened twice in the past six months."
Don Kuch, clinical supervisor for the Crisis Clinic, which oversees the hot line, said he was shocked by the story. "I can't imagine how that would have happened," he said. "Could she have called our business line?"
No, Wyome responded. "It was beyond the pale to me."
Another counselor offered a similar assessment. She said one of her clients called the hot line and was immediately made to wait. It was a non-emergency call, said the counselor, who asked to remain anonymous. "But what if it was? What if she had been on the bridge?"
Kuch said he can't imagine any of the volunteers who staff the lines putting a caller on hold -- unless they had cleared it as a non-emergency.
The crisis line receives about 250 calls a day. About five trained volunteers staff the lines during the day, with two to three at night.
A little more than one call out of every 10 is someone threatening suicide. Inexplicably, call volume soared in 2005 with 93,021 -- nearly 10,000 more calls than the previous year.
"We've noticed no trends that would explain that (increase)," Kuch said.
Wyome, who has worked in Seattle as a clinical social worker since 1994, said she hoped the routing of her call was a fluke. "The fact that a program would allow any hot line calls to go on hold would make me suspect their clinical judgment."
The city, after meeting with law enforcement and public health officials, decided in September to install the hot lines at the bridge's four pedestrian entrances. Most years, four people jump to their deaths from the bridge.
This year, the city was on pace to set a record with seven, one shy of the previous record.
City officials were not just concerned solely with the jumpers but also the people below the bridges who had complained about bodies falling into parking lots and onto cars.
Declining to install physical barriers, such as a net, as likely to inhibit bridge inspection, city officials and suicide-prevention experts hope that a final chance with a dissuading voice will turn jumpers away.
Authorities in San Francisco have said that hot lines on the Golden Gate Bridge helped stop potential jumpers.
Kuch said, "If we go to three a year from four, it will be worth it."
The phone boxes will contain two buttons: one for the suicide hot line, the other for standard 911.
They are expected to be operational in early December.
Marty McOmber, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels, said he hopes that the "on-hold" issue is a fluke.
"Obviously, that's not something you want to hear," he said. "But there are going to be two buttons on the phone, so someone will be on the other end at all times."