Canada suicide hotline open only during buisness hours...

[Hivetyrant]

bugger

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 ($24,000) 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."

[ 05-29-2005, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: Hivetyrant ]

[Larry_OHF]

"If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please press 1. If you have already attempted suicide and you are now dying, press 2. For all other calls, press 3. To continue this message in French, press 5. Otherwise, please call back during normal business hours."

"One moment...transferring."

"Hello, this is Jacque deMorre, sorry I cannot save your life right now, but if you'll leave your name and address where you are committing the suicide, I'll be sure to send the coroner your way. Thank you."

~beep~

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Office hours? Makes sense. When do you want to kill yourself more?

But.... 1400 calls, and only 50 were suicidal? What were the others? Crank calls? Avon ladies? What?

[Morgeruat]

wow...nathan makes more money in one year than it takes for them to run that, they're not paying people much to answer their phones.

[EDIT] my apologies, it opened in firefox which has nathan signed in, this post is really mine, RevRuby

[ 05-29-2005, 09:44 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

[Sir Goulum]

Originally posted by Morgeruat: wow...nathan makes more money in one year than it takes for them to run that, they're not paying people much to answer their phones. [EDIT] my apologies, it opened in firefox which has nathan signed in, this post is really mine, RevRuby

Well, this is PEI we're talking about. But, with 1400 calls a year, it's doubtful that they have many people answering the phones anyways. And maybe some people volunteer. [img]graemlins/whome.gif[/img]

[ 05-29-2005, 10:30 PM: Message edited by: Sir Goulum ]

[Jorath Calar]

Hmmm, I wonder if it would make sense to open one of these Suicide hotlines in Iraq...

or not...

[Mr. Mopery]

You've got to remember that this is PEI (Prince Edward Island) we're talking about. That's where Anne of Green Gables (and Avalon and so on) is from.

Why have a suicide hotline at all if you live in one of the most wholesome places on Earth.

[Sir Degrader]

No offense but why does PEI even have one? The only things that come from that place are potatoes and cheap tourist goods, hell, it shouldn't even be a province, its not even 30k!

[Sir Goulum]

A little larger than that actually. By about 108 000 people.

[Sir Degrader]

I meant land wise.