Calls to Puerto Rico's suicide hotline have skyrocketed since Hurricane Maria
Source: Vox
Reported suicide attempts have tripled in recent months.
By Alexia Fernández Campbell@AlexiaCampbellalexia@vox.com Feb 21, 2018, 8:40am EST
The number of people on the island who have reportedly tried to kill themselves since Hurricane Maria hit the island has more than tripled. From November 2017 through January 2018, a crisis hotline run by Puerto Rico's Department of Health received 3,050 calls from people who said they had attempted suicide. That's an astounding 246 percent increase compared to the same time last year.
This data was released in a report in January by the health department's Commission for Suicide Prevention, with additional reporting from El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico’s largest newspaper.
Even more people called the hotline to report suicidal thoughts (as opposed to those who attempted suicide). About 9,645 people who called the hotline in the past three months said they’d thought about killing themselves — an 83 percent jump from the same time last year. These numbers are astonishing, and offer a snapshot of the mental health crisis unfolding in Puerto Rico.
The rate of Puerto Ricans who chose to end their lives is also on the rise. The suicide rate in 2017 was the highest it has been since 2013, and men and older Puerto Ricans were much more likely to kill themselves. About 86 percent of all suicides were men, and about a third involved people between the ages of 55 and 69, the data shows.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17032168/puerto-rico-suicide-hotline-hurricane-maria
= new reply since forum marked as read
