Rep. Mike Schlossberg’s concern over suicide has led him to create a statewide suicide prevention plan. The goal of the plan is to reduce suicides in Pennsylvania. The plan includes improving health monitoring and training. Additionally, it intends to promote care coordination for suicide attempt survivors, and identify people at risk of taking their own lives.
The Allentown Democrat considers the economic crisis caused by the pandemic a crucial factor for his concern. “If people don’t have the financial means to pay their bills and they may get evicted. This is a time when I worry about an increase in suicides,” he said.
Mike Schlossberg’s fears related to people who lose earning power are based on data. As an example he cited a study that demonstrated that a $1 increase in the minimum wage can decrease suicides by 3.5% or more. And, he added that suicides spiked after the Great Recession hit in 2007.
You can read: Suicide prevention task outlines report
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death and claims twice as many lives as homicide. In 2018, the latest year for which full data is available. There were 48,344 suicides nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Pennsylvania, 2,017 people died by suicide in 2018, this means a sharp increase from 1,272 such deaths in 1999. But the Representative said no data on suicides since the start of the coronavirus crisis is available.
The Wolf administration formed its statewide Suicide Prevention Task Force in 2019. Mike Schlossberg became co-chairman.
Mike Schlossberg´s plan
The four-year plan issued Thursday set eight goals. These include increase suicide prevention awareness efforts. It also promotes trauma-informed approaches to support all Pennsylvania residents. Besides this, it provides quality training on the prevention of suicide and management of suicide risk across multiple sectors and settings.
Mike Schlossberg saw hope in the fact that just as many Republicans attended the listening sessions as Democrats.
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