Springfield, Vt.
Case manager Malcolm Hamblett recently took part in a training course which focused on community strategies for suicide prevention, risk factors and warning signs to look for, and recognizing and helping people at risk.
While Hamblett has not had a firsthand encounter with senior suicide, he has heard some of his clients express that if they were to have to give up their independence and enter a nursing home, they may contemplate suicide.
“They don’t want to live in a situation where they can’t have control over their own lives,” Hamblett said.
There are four risk factors to look for in seniors, Hamblett learned. The first one is signs of depression, “which I think is the most prevalent,” he said. It can stem from frustration “just with limited resources, limited mobility, where they can’t do as much as they used to.”
The second is debilitation. “Where they’ve had some type of disease or illness that has really debilitated them and what they have to do,” Hamblett said.
Discontent is the third factor and it especially can be more challenging in the colder months. “Maybe either friends have begun dying and they have fewer friends around,” Hamblett said.
The accessibility of “deadly means” is the last factor. “Firearms is by far and wide … the most common form of death by suicide especially among elderly men,” Hamblett said.
Caregivers and community members should look out for signs emotional pain or distress in senior citizens.
“If they’re beginning to think about not really caring about their life anymore, expressing a wish or a strong wish to die, that would be something to be concerned about,” Hamblett said.
Senior citizens can also be reluctant in bringing up feelings of depression or despondency. “I think the fact that a lot of seniors don’t even talk to their primary care physician about it, that would seem to be the one person that they’d be willing to confide in,” Hamblett said.
The most important thing for community members to do is to show compassion and let senior citizens who may be facing these issues know that they’re not alone.
“Especially if you’re somebody that’s concerned about somebody else, don’t be afraid to talk with them about the issue,” Hamblett said. “We should not hesitate if we think somebody is at risk.”
Editor’s note: Hamblett is offering two-hour community awareness presentations on the topic to groups and people in Senior Solutions coverage zone. For more information, call 802-885-2655. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
