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U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

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Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#191

Post by hirundo »

throwaway988 wrote: post #155

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

Create something. Make something, anything. For me it works fast, like chocolate against dementors. The more meaningful the better, but in a pinch even making a pile of rocks will do. A sandcastle. A sculpture of Karl Malden's nose in chopped liver. It's like magic.

It's a simple algorithm. Depressed? Build.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#192

Post by silisili »

mmmpop wrote: post #172
throwaway988 wrote: post #155

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> If you're 35, your life is more than half done anyway. Not really

The preceding line was about subjective time passing. He's not saying you'll be dead by 70, he's saying everything after 35 feels like it goes by way, way faster than the first 35. I certainly feel that way, and may even adjust that number down some myself.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#193

Post by Lammy »

tylergetsay wrote: post #158
kelseyfrog wrote: post #37

What constitutes a 988 emergency? I was raised with a sacrosanct view of 911. Do not call unless it is a bona fide emergency. This means something along the lines of a situation outside my expertise that poses a threat to life. Broadly speaking it ranges from medical, physical, security, and probably a host of other things I'm forgetting. However, I don't have the same instilled ideas about 988. What are the sufficie…

I called 911 once because a large piece of furniture was sitting in the middle of the highway; it felt weird

Fun fact: In California (presumably other states[0] too, but I live in California), calling 911 from a cellular phone along a freeway corridor routes the call directly to California Highway Patrol's 911 dispatch instead of to the adjacent town/county/whatever: https://sanramonpolice.com/2016/09/30/using-a-cell-phone-to-...

"If a cellular 911 caller is on, or in close proximity, to a freeway, there is a high likelihood this call will go to the California Highway Patrol dispatch center. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has jurisdiction over state freeways and handles emergency calls on these roadways. Cellular calls often utilize towers that are located near the freeway. Therefore, some cellular calls made from city streets, but near a freeway, will be routed to the California Highway Patrol."

You definitely did the right thing, though. I've made similar calls for mattresses and ladders blocking lanes.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_police_(United_States)#S...

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#194

Post by bigyikes »

mlsu wrote: post #190
throwaway988 wrote: post #155

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> Third, if everything seems bleak, get wasted. Probably things will seem less urgent in the morning. Please do not do this. Suicide and being drunk are very correlated. If you have a firearm in the house, or even if not, this is the single worst thing you can do for your own survival.

Better idea: get stoned. You’re less likely to engage in reckless activities on cannabis compared to alcohol.

At least, that’s been my experience in this situation.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#195

Post by yellowapple »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #73
morelisp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My last ambulance trip in the US was billed at $12000. With my (good!) insurance I still had to pay $500.

$500 for a specialized vehicle on demand 24/7 with somewhat trained workers who have to deal with undesirable work seems pretty good. Assuming that was under the deductible, so the ambulance provider did not get paid anything else, and $500 was the negotiated pricing for members of your insurance plan.

> Assuming that was under the deductible, so the ambulance provider did not get paid anything else

Hm? The insurer would've paid the difference (minus some additional discounts depending on the size of the insurer and its bargaining power). That the patient paid $500 does not in the slightest bit indicate that the insurer negotiated the rate down to that pricepoint.

Even at $500 (and let's assume that was an hour-long ride, for easy math that's maximally generous to your argument), EMTs on average make around $20/hour at best, and maybe double that for a nurse - so a fully staffed ambulance would run around $80/hour for labor. Round it up to $100 to be generous and that still leaves $400 for the ambulance itself. Ambulance itself costs up to $150,000, so earmarking another $100 would pay it off after 1,500 hours of service - so less than a year, even if it's only running for 40 hours a week. Maybe it's really fuel-inefficient and breaks down frequently, so we'll say another $100 for fuel and maintenance. Throw in another $100 to pay off $150,000 worth of equipment and medical supplies.

So of that $500 price the patient pays, we're left with $100. At the price billed to the insurer, that's an eye-watering $11,600 of what appears to be pure profit. Maybe there's some excuse for that, but to me it's pretty obvious that something's way out of whack. $500 or even a bit more than that would be reasonable if EMTs and nurses were being paid better, but they largely ain't.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#196

Post by prvit »

kupopuffs wrote: post #178
prvit wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does this get downvoted? Involuntary commitment is not free in the US.

does a phone call here really lead to involuntary commitment?

Not necessarily, but it’s not particularly unlikely. Depends entirely on how lucky you get with the operator.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#197

Post by throwaway988 »

mlsu wrote: post #190
throwaway988 wrote: post #155

For those who might ever contemplate this, maybe you'd like to hear a bit from me. I've been both depressed life-long and have probably spent more time in such contemplation than virtually anyone else here. (I'm pretty happy now, so no need to worry.) One of the worst things about this is the feeling that you can't talk to anyone about it, as the moment you do, you start having to take care of _them_ emotionally, at…

> Third, if everything seems bleak, get wasted. Probably things will seem less urgent in the morning. Please do not do this. Suicide and being drunk are very correlated. If you have a firearm in the house, or even if not, this is the single worst thing you can do for your own survival.

Look, if your two options are get drunk or kill yourself right now, in my opinion, do the former. This worked out for me--YMMV.

Also, put your engineer hat on. You _absolutely_ do not want to kill yourself with a firearm. Yeah, it usually works. But if it doesn't, you will learn what true misery is.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#198

Post by yellowapple »

nimbius wrote: post #28
Waterluvian wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree. But I’m not sure what alternative I have to hoping this might be the start of something. In Ontario an ambulance trip is about $40. But in the US it can be crippling.

healthcare reform, gun control, education reform and labor reform. these are all very hard, but adding a telco service is relatively easy. btw many is cities can barely keep their dispatch for 911 staffed.

> healthcare reform, gun control, education reform and labor reform

One of these things is not like the others.

There's no need for gun control once a society has implemented the other three; violence and suidice (with or without access to firearms) is a direct function of socioeconomic inequality - and I'm uncomfortable (to say the least) with disarming the very working class most impacted by said socioeconomic inequality at all, let alone before actually addressing that socioeconomic inequality.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#199

Post by throwaway988 »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #37

What constitutes a 988 emergency? I was raised with a sacrosanct view of 911. Do not call unless it is a bona fide emergency. This means something along the lines of a situation outside my expertise that poses a threat to life. Broadly speaking it ranges from medical, physical, security, and probably a host of other things I'm forgetting. However, I don't have the same instilled ideas about 988. What are the sufficie…

If you think you should call 988 for yourself, you probably should. Consider the results of a false positive versus a false negative. I think the people on those lines are happy enough to deal with 100 of the former to prevent one of the latter.

More subjectively, if you find yourself at a moment where you simply cannot think of any reason not to kill yourself, and especially if you have a fairly concrete plan, well, what do you have to lose? You can always apologize later.

Regarding 911, I called once, the real deal. I was appalled and experiencing a fair amount of shame, but realized that all social conventions had fallen away. I had found myself in a pit of agony with no way out, and there was nothing I would not have done to get out. I'm not saying you should wait until that point--many life-threatening situations do not involve agony--but if you're there, you definitely should make the call.

In another case, I called 911 for a child. I thought there was a five percent chance that she would experience an outcome that would terrorize her and maybe destroy her life. Close enough.

Re: U.S. transition to 988 suicide and crisis lifeline begins Saturday

#200

Post by yellowapple »

vorpalhex wrote: post #72
prvit wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://theweek.com/articles/531458/troubling-rise-swat-team... This 2015 article claims 80k deployments per year And I guess it makes little difference whether it’s the SWAT team that shoots you or just regular cops.

Your articles source for that 80k figure is literally a guess by a criminologist who gives the range "50k to 80k" based on literally no data. The only data they are using is PG county MD which has one of the highest murder rates in the country. In 2021 there were ~1,000 police shootings. 85% of shot suspects were armed with a deadly weapon. That's in a nation with a population of 334,000,000 people.

> 85% of shot suspects were armed with a deadly weapon.

That percentage is artificially inflated due to LEOs having a very broad definition of "deadly weapon".

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