Matthew Dovel
President of Intl. Suicide Prevention
- January 17, 2008 • 3:59 pm PST
- + responses
Sally's little secrete
Sally is a very beautiful young woman, a natural beauty. Big bright blue eyes and long flowing blonde hair, neatly trimmed. She is always well groomed from her head to her toes with a body that most women would die for. But, when attempting to ask her a question or trying to hold a conversation with her, she is unresponsive. At first one would think she was just being stuck up, or just not interested enough to answer the question. The truth is this woman, now in her early thirties, had received severe brain damage at the age of six, it was permanent. It was not what you might think, though. It was not from a blow or even a fall. It was from a post traumatic event that could happen to anyone at anytime.
On her way home from school, Sally was just like any other six year old little girl. She was very attentive in class and very eager to learn addition, subtraction and the abc's. Getting off the school bus Sally would walk home holding hands with her best friend doing all the things that a little girl would normally do. She was very happy and couldn't wait to tell her mommy about her day and all that she had learned.
It was now five in the evening and Sally had been home for around four hours when her father walked in from work. It took some time for her daddy to comprehend what he was seeing, just standing there in disbelief as the horror sunk in.
Sally had come home about an hour after her mommy had used her daddy's shot gun to commit suicide. Alone for over four hours with her now dead mommy, Sally had attempted to piece her mommy's head back together, like a puzzle. It must have been some sight that her daddy walked in on as Sally was covered from head to toe in dark blood. Little bloody hand prints covered her pretty pink dress as she wept uncontrollably crying out for her mommy to wake up.
After the paramedics arrived to the scene it took some time to convince Sally to let go of her mommy. Sally's daddy suddenly filled with the grief of loosing his wife, and seeing the horror of her suicide was too much for him and he had to be institutionalized. Sally went catatonic requiring her to also be institutionalized. A few months later, Sally's daddy also ended his life leaving Sally alone. A grandparent eventually took custody of Sally and attempted to raise her as a normal child, even though she never spoke again.
This story is not an unusual one, as 89 people commit suicide in the United States every day. 80% of all in home suicides are cleaned up by a family member. An organization based out of Las Vegas is making a difference when it comes to suicides in our local communities, country, and around the world. ISP (Intl. Suicide Prevention) a nonprofit organization has three objectives; raise public awareness about how to detect the suicidal, teach suicide prevention, and what it believes is the most significant work in the field of suicide prevention, ISP is the only national organization that provides Emergency Crisis Response Post-Suicide Family Support.
If you would like to learn more about how to prevent a tragedy such as the one you have just read, or would like to support ISP's mission, go to http://www.supportisp.org , or call 702-743-4340.
Making a significant change starts with one person, and a passion with enthusiasm to change it!
ISP is supported by numerous companies, organizations and the general public. Although we have the support of many, we are falling short of our requests from those that we serve.
Our man goal is to inform the public that suicide scenes are considered to be a bio-hazard (a virus can live in dried blood for several weeks), and by law must be cleaned by a certified bio-hazardous company (average cost is $1,500.00). If the family does not have the funds to pay for this service they are left with only two choices; 1. ISP will pay for suicide scene cleanup if we have the funds. If ISP does not have the funds to help, and the suicide scenes are not located close enough to one of our volunteers to assist then they are left with option #2. The families, by law, will have to clean the suicide scene themselves, which can, and does lead to significant psychological trauma placing an individual in the highest risk group of future suicides.
Since it was the Federal Government that placed a law on the citizens of the United States forbidding anyone other than the immediate family or, a bio-hazardous company to clean a suicide scene we have taken the initiative to contact our local branch of government with requests for Federal funding.
We are currently working with Jim Gibbons the Governor of Nevada to submit a bill by the end of the month for sponsorship by either US Senator Harry Reed or, Congressman Jon Porter to cover the 40 million annual funds needed for Emergency Crisis Response Post-Suicide Family Support. This funding will likely take months to acquire but, we are hoping that since the government created this problem that they will assist in fixing it.
In the mean time we are overwhelmed with those seeking help and do not have the necessary resources to assist them all. If you can forward this email to the proper office to consider emergency funding for ISP we would be eternally grateful.
Sincerely,
Matthew Dovel
President
ISP
1736 E. Charleston Blvd., #301
Las Vegas, NV 89104
Sally is a very beautiful young woman, a natural beauty. Big bright blue eyes and long flowing blonde hair, neatly trimmed. She is always well groomed from her head to her toes with a body that most women would die for. But, when attempting to ask her a question or trying to hold a conversation with her, she is unresponsive. At first one would think she was just being stuck up, or just not interested enough to answer the question. The truth is this woman, now in her early thirties, had received severe brain damage at the age of six, it was permanent. It was not what you might think, though. It was not from a blow or even a fall. It was from a post traumatic event that could happen to anyone at anytime.
On her way home from school, Sally was just like any other six year old little girl. She was very attentive in class and very eager to learn addition, subtraction and the abc's. Getting off the school bus Sally would walk home holding hands with her best friend doing all the things that a little girl would normally do. She was very happy and couldn't wait to tell her mommy about her day and all that she had learned.
It was now five in the evening and Sally had been home for around four hours when her father walked in from work. It took some time for her daddy to comprehend what he was seeing, just standing there in disbelief as the horror sunk in.
Sally had come home about an hour after her mommy had used her daddy's shot gun to commit suicide. Alone for over four hours with her now dead mommy, Sally had attempted to piece her mommy's head back together, like a puzzle. It must have been some sight that her daddy walked in on as Sally was covered from head to toe in dark blood. Little bloody hand prints covered her pretty pink dress as she wept uncontrollably crying out for her mommy to wake up.
After the paramedics arrived to the scene it took some time to convince Sally to let go of her mommy. Sally's daddy suddenly filled with the grief of loosing his wife, and seeing the horror of her suicide was too much for him and he had to be institutionalized. Sally went catatonic requiring her to also be institutionalized. A few months later, Sally's daddy also ended his life leaving Sally alone. A grandparent eventually took custody of Sally and attempted to raise her as a normal child, even though she never spoke again.
This story is not an unusual one, as 89 people commit suicide in the United States every day. 80% of all in home suicides are cleaned up by a family member. An organization based out of Las Vegas is making a difference when it comes to suicides in our local communities, country, and around the world. ISP (Intl. Suicide Prevention) a nonprofit organization has three objectives; raise public awareness about how to detect the suicidal, teach suicide prevention, and what it believes is the most significant work in the field of suicide prevention, ISP is the only national organization that provides Emergency Crisis Response Post-Suicide Family Support.
If you would like to learn more about how to prevent a tragedy such as the one you have just read, or would like to support ISP's mission, go to http://www.supportisp.org , or call 702-743-4340.
Making a significant change starts with one person, and a passion with enthusiasm to change it!
ISP is supported by numerous companies, organizations and the general public. Although we have the support of many, we are falling short of our requests from those that we serve.
Our man goal is to inform the public that suicide scenes are considered to be a bio-hazard (a virus can live in dried blood for several weeks), and by law must be cleaned by a certified bio-hazardous company (average cost is $1,500.00). If the family does not have the funds to pay for this service they are left with only two choices; 1. ISP will pay for suicide scene cleanup if we have the funds. If ISP does not have the funds to help, and the suicide scenes are not located close enough to one of our volunteers to assist then they are left with option #2. The families, by law, will have to clean the suicide scene themselves, which can, and does lead to significant psychological trauma placing an individual in the highest risk group of future suicides.
Since it was the Federal Government that placed a law on the citizens of the United States forbidding anyone other than the immediate family or, a bio-hazardous company to clean a suicide scene we have taken the initiative to contact our local branch of government with requests for Federal funding.
We are currently working with Jim Gibbons the Governor of Nevada to submit a bill by the end of the month for sponsorship by either US Senator Harry Reed or, Congressman Jon Porter to cover the 40 million annual funds needed for Emergency Crisis Response Post-Suicide Family Support. This funding will likely take months to acquire but, we are hoping that since the government created this problem that they will assist in fixing it.
In the mean time we are overwhelmed with those seeking help and do not have the necessary resources to assist them all. If you can forward this email to the proper office to consider emergency funding for ISP we would be eternally grateful.
Sincerely,
Matthew Dovel
President
ISP
1736 E. Charleston Blvd., #301
Las Vegas, NV 89104
