– Health Ministry better poised to address suicide casesWith the completion yesterday of an intense crisis hotline training programme, which was undertaken through the collaborative effort of the Ministry of Health, the Dalhousie University and the CHIMO Crisis Services from Vancouver,Tom Wilson Capitals Jersey, the local ministry is gearing to engage a vibrant mental health response programme in a matter of months.According to a statement issued by the Ministry yesterday the hotline programme is likely to be officially commenced within the next four months once everything is in place for the full operation of this service. With the completion of this training, the Ministry of Health is in a better position to respond to various social determinants that affect health, particularly those that contribute to violence, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, alcoholism and those conditions that result in suicide attempts.This initiative, the statement said, is specifically in response to the public health scourge of suicide. Guyana averages about 180 suicide deaths per year and has developed a surveillance system to track all suicide deaths despite the fact that tracking attempts are still quite weak.And since there are at least 500 suicide attempts on an annual basis,Chile Jersey, the Ministry of Health is now requiring all hospitals to report any possible suicide attempt case to the Ministry?within 24 hours after presentation at the hospital.Approximately 11 persons from the Ministry of Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) were trained as the core group of operators for this hotline. According to the statement,Edson Puch Chile Jersey, the pilot phase of the programme is expected to span the period September 2010 through June 2011,Adrian Beltre Rangers Jersey, during which time the operators will man the hotline.During this phase,St. Louis Cardinals Whitey Herzog Jersey, collaboration will be sought with the University of Guyana to have the Communication, Social Work and Health Sciences students,Enrique Hernandez Dodgers Jersey, who are required to be attached to a community or voluntary service during their period of study, to function as volunteers as part of the completion of their programme requirements.The draft Policies and Procedures’ that will govern the crisis hotline have also been completed and will be finalised over the next two weeks by experts from the Dalhousie University,Ron Duguay Rangers Jersey, Halifax, Canada,Chicago Cubs Travis Wood Jersey, according to Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy.He has also revealed that a complete manual that will govern the training for and operation of the hotline will also be drafted and finalised by the end of this week. An application form for potential volunteers has been drafted and will also be finalised within the next week.The core group of operators for the hotline will work along with experts from the CHIMO Crisis Services in Vancouver even as the Ministry works with hotline service experts from Nova Scotia, Montreal and British Columbia.The Ministry of Health is working in collaboration with GT&T to establish a state-of-the-art telephone system for the service. The telephone system will operate on the same basis as the 911 and 912 service for the police and fire service. The Ministry and GT&T have already initiated efforts to establish the telephone service and its practice sessions are being conducted with approximately eight persons from the Ministry of Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation to be the initial operators.This effort is part of a comprehensive programme to reduce the number of suicide attempts and deaths in addition to the development of an advance service system.The ministry is also scaling up a gatekeeper training programme which has as its objectives to establish a Guyana Suicide Prevention Training Programme for Gatekeepers and health care providers and to establish Community Gatekeepers for Suicide Prevention.