State above
average in people taking own
lives; cause of death is
second-highest among young
Jan and
Stephen Ulrich visited the
Resthaven Cemetery grave site of
her son, Nathan Eisert, who shot
himself to death in June.
''Sometimes I just want to bring
a sleeping bag out here and lay
by him,'' Jan Ulrich said. The
Ulriches are part of a group
that hopes to raise awareness
about Kentucky's high suicide
rate.
Photo by
Bill Luster
LEXINGTON,
Ky. -- Jenny Aker's hands
trembled as she pulled the 11
1/2 -inch quilt squares from a
plastic shopping bag.
On those
squares are photos of young
people who have killed
themselves. A picture of her
23-year-old son is among them.
''You're
actually in physical pain,'' she
said. ''It hurts so bad.''
Aker and
others are part of a group that
is putting together a quilt of
19 suicide victims to bring
attention to a large problem in
Kentucky, where an average of
500 people kill themselves every
year.
At 12.8
deaths per 100,000 population
each year, Kentucky's numbers
exceed the national average of
11.45 deaths per 100,000. The
most recent statistics available
are from 1996 to '99 and were
reported in preliminary data
from the Kentucky Injury
Prevention and Research Center
at the University of Kentucky.
According
to the American Association of
Suicidology, Kentucky ranked
21st in the nation in suicides
in 1999.
After
accidental deaths, suicide is
the second leading cause of
death for 15to 34year-olds in
Kentucky -- and that has parents
and officials alarmed.
Those
numbers are why the Kentucky
Suicide Prevention Planning
Group formed in March, hoping to
raise awareness and look into
Kentucky's high rate.
''Kids
start hearing about drugs and
alcohol and firearms safety and
cigarettes in grade school. . .
. But nobody ever talks about
this other thing,'' said Jan
Ulrich, whose son committed
suicide in June.
The
prevention group, organized by
the state Department for Mental
Health, includes representatives
from UK, Western Kentucky
University, families of people
who have committed suicide, the
office of aging and hospice,
public school officials and
others. About 30 people have
attended the group's six
meetings.
Most of the
state's suicides are in the 35
and older age group, but the
rate among the 15-34 group is
the highest in the state. Aker,
like many others, wants some
answers.
Kentucky
suicide statistics
Men in the
state are five times as likely
to kill themselves compared to
women.
Guns were
used in 73 percent of suicides.
Kentucky's
rate of 12.8 deaths per 100,000
residents is higher than the
national average of 11.45 deaths
per 100,000 residents.
* There are
higher suicide rates in three
areas:
Top
causes of death
Ages 15-24
1. Accident
2. Suicide
3. Homicide
Ages 25-34
1. Accident
2. Suicide
3. Heart
disease
* 500 on
average kill themselves
annually.
SOURCE:
Preliminary data from Kentucky
Injury Prevention and Research
Center, University of Kentucky.
From 1996-'99 information from
death certificates compiled by
Kentucky Vital Statistics
Branch, Division of Epidemiology
and Health Planning, Department
of Public Health.
Since her
son Matthew's death, Aker said
she has come to know the
families of some of the 19
represented on the quilt through
support groups. The families
from these groups have formed a
tight-knit community. No one can
understand what it's like to
lose someone to suicide unless
they've been there; it helps to
know other families who have
been through it, she said.
Zonnie
Gatlin of Lexington, who is
helping make the quilt, had a
son who shot himself a little
more than a year ago. She said
she hopes the quilt will help
illustrate the effects of
suicides on families.
The quilt
will be displayed at a
suicide-prevention conference in
Lexington on Oct. 25 at the
Radisson Plaza Hotel and then in
Washington, D.C., for a suicide
survivor conference at a later
date.
Coping
with death
Aker and
Gatlin become emotional when
talking about their dead sons.
Their eyes well with tears and
their voices crack as they
discuss the kinds of people
their sons were and share
stories about their lives.
''Suicide
is a whole different kind of
death,'' Aker said. ''Nobody
knows how to talk to you or what
to say to you.''
Ulrich's
son, Nathan Eisert, 20, shot
himself with his father's gun
weeks after being cut from the
WKU basketball team. Because he
died in his dorm room in Bowling
Green, Eisert's death garnered
statewide attention.
Until she
lost her son, Ulrich said she
didn't know that suicide is the
second leading cause of death
for young people in the state.
''I never
heard any of this before,''
Ulrich said. Her goal with the
group, she said, is to make sure
other families don't have to
learn about the statistics the
way she did.
Gatlin said
she always believed suicide as
something that happened in other
families. ''I always thought
there must be something else
wrong with the family,'' she
said.
But a
little more than a year ago
Gatlin's son, James McBride, 23,
shot himself to death in a
closet at his father's
Winchester home.
''I'm
having trouble doing anything
for suicide prevention yet, but
I wanted to do something to
commemorate'' his life, said
Gatlin as she helped Aker
arrange the panels on the quilt
last week.
Zonnie
Gatlin, Jenny Aker and Allison
Gates, from left to right,
examined a quilt they are making
that depicts Kentucky suicide
victims. All three women have
lost family members to suicide.
The quilt will be displayed at a
suicide-prevention conference in
Lexington on Oct. 25.
WKU
recently became the second
Kentucky college to get involved
with the prevention group.
Howard Bailey, associate vice
president of student affairs,
attended a meeting in Lexington
earlier this month.
''I think
anytime you get more people
informed about mental health and
you take any form of steps to
assist those that are potential
victims of suicide, you're
moving in a positive
direction,'' Bailey said.
In
addition, Bailey said he
believes the group will provide
more publicity about available
mental health resources.
''Hopefully it will assist in
getting students to go out and
seek assistance.''
During its
most recent meeting, the
prevention and planning group
developed three short-term
goals: awareness,
training/education and reporting
suicide data.
Stephen
Ulrich, Jan's husband and
Nathan's stepfather, said the
goals are a place to start. Just
talking about Nathan caused
Stephen Ulrich to cry.
''I never
want to see another parent in
the United States go through
what we are going through,'' he
said. ''Where I really have
trouble with this whole thing is
this information has been out
there forever. All of it was
sitting there and no one was
doing anything with it.''
Other
family members of people who
committed suicide agree.
Aker's son
shot himself two years ago.
''He was
the type who had lots of
friends. He was always with a
lot of kids. They always said he
was the life of the party,'' she
said.
"Suicide
is a whole different kind of
death. Nobody knows how to talk
to you or what to say to
you."
"Kids
start hearing about drugs and
alcohol and firearms safety and
cigarettes in grade school. . .
. But nobody ever talks about
this other thing."-- Jan
Ulrich, mother of Nathan Eisert
Before her
son killed himself, Aker said
she had thought that those who
committed suicide were crazy.
''I kept
thinking it's just all one
typical person, and it's not,''
Aker said.
Matthew
Aker was a student at UK sharing
an apartment in Lexington when
he killed himself two years ago.
He died four months after his
father, J. Calvin Aker, 60, died
of emphysema. The elder Aker was
a former state Supreme Court
justice.
Matthew had
planned to follow in his
father's footsteps and become a
lawyer. He considered his dad to
be his best friend.
Aker said
she met with her son every
afternoon and had dinner with
him daily after his dad died.
But like so many others, she
said, she didn't see it coming.
Aker said
she hadn't heard from Matthew,
her only son, for a few days and
had a strong feeling that she
needed to check in on him. She
tracked down Matthew's roommate
who unlocked their apartment.
That is when Aker found her son
shot to death with his own gun.
Deep down,
she said, she had wanted to
blame Matthew's death on
something like drugs or alcohol.
''I would have hoped he was
drunk and not in his right
mind,'' when he killed himself,
she said. But when she got his
toxicology results back, she
learned he had neither in his
system.
Since then,
she's had time to reflect.
A few weeks
before shooting himself, Aker
said, Matthew told her that he
didn't think he wanted to live
in a world without his dad.
After his death, she learned
that Matthew had quit going to
classes. Despite meeting with
him often, Aker didn't really
know what was happening with her
son.
Allison
Gates, 24, Matthew's younger
sister, said she has had a hard
time dealing with the deaths in
her family.
While
people will come up and talk to
her about losing her dad, they
don't talk about her brother's
death, she said, because they
are afraid to talk about
suicide.
Raising
awareness
In 1999,
the Surgeon General issued a
call to action to state health
organizations to raise awareness
of issues surrounding suicide.
That year,
suicide was the eighth leading
cause of death among Americans,
up from the ninth leading cause
of death in 1996, according to a
Surgeon General report.
Suicide
rates in young people have
increased from 1952 to '96.
During that time, the suicide
rate among adolescents and young
adults tripled, according to the
report. Even though there has
been an overall decline in youth
suicides since 1994, from 1980
to '96, rates among those ages
15 to 19 increased by 14 percent
and for those ages 10 to 14 the
rate increased 100 percent from
1980 to '96.
National
research indicates that nearly
all suicides have a diagnosable
mental or substance-abuse
disorder or both, the report
said. The most promising
prevention tool is early
detection and treatment of
depression and other psychiatric
illnesses, according to the
Surgeon General.
With
several agencies and people
working together to look at
Kentucky's specific issues, the
state is heading in the right
direction, said Sue Eastgard,
director of the Washington State
Youth Suicide Prevention
Program.
Eastgard,
who directs Washington's
8-year-old program, is
consulting with the Kentucky
Suicide Prevention Planning
Group to help the organization
develop its own strategies.
''We not
only have a plan, we have
legislative support to implement
that plan,'' Eastgard said.
''Kentucky is behind but moving.
And they are committed to having
something in their state.''
''At this
point there is no official
suicide prevention effort,''
said Jason Padgett,
quality-improvement coordinator
for the Impact Plus Program, a
state Department for Mental
Health program. Padgett
facilitates the state's suicide
prevention group meetings.
''We're
willing to have the meetings if
people are willing to come,''
said Jan Ulrich. That, she said,
is the missing link for suicide
prevention in Kentucky.
''What we
don't have right now is the
legitimacy from the governor
saying this is an officially
sanctioned task force,'' Ulrich
said.
A few state
employees have been given time
outside of their normal work
schedules to participate in the
group, but Kentucky -- like many
other states, including Indiana
-- has not assigned someone to
concentrate only on suicide
prevention.
''We would
like to wait and see what this
work group recommends before
making any kind of decision
about what next steps to take,''
said Gil Lawson, spokesman for
the Kentucky Cabinet for Health
Services.
''There is
no budget, and until it hits
that step it's going to be very
difficult to enact a prevention
strategy plan without this
becoming officially sanctioned
without having resources to go
with it,'' Ulrich said.
