Holidays prove a hard duty for Partnership

By Cliff Newell

The Lake Oswego Review, Dec 31, 2009, Updated Jan 5, 2010 (1 Reader comment)

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This is not the season to be jolly for many people in Clackamas County.

Oregon Partnership had to handle a huge increase in suicide prevention calls on its hotline in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and it is already buckling down for a new raft of callers tonight for New Year’s Eve.

“There has been a dramatic, dramatic rise in the use of our suicide hotline over the past year,” said Judy Cushing, a Lake Oswego resident who is founder and CEO of Oregon Partnership. “It’s been driven by the economy and war.

“It’s actually frightening how many people are feeling hopeless and considering taking their lives.”

There were almost 18,000 calls to the organization’s alcohol and national suicide hotlines from March to December this year, according to crisis lines director Leslie Storm. Many callers require counseling or even suicide intervention or rescues.

“We had 19 rescues in December in Multnomah and Clackamas counties,” Cushing said. “In November we had 22. Last year at this time we had 2. This is a very difficult time of year, and the public is not aware of the gravity of the situation.”

But with its 113 volunteers, Oregon Partnership tries to prevent tragedy.

“Our volunteers are thoroughly trained in risk assessment,” said Deborah Zwetchkenbaum, assistant director of the crisis lines. “They try to really connect and give a caller the chance to talk about what is on their mind. If they can’t do that, we call Emergency Services.”

One of those volunteers is Lon Getlin of West Linn, president of a company in Portland by profession and a saver of lives by avocation. A member of Oregon Partnership’s executive board, Getlin decided to get back on the phone lines two months ago because of the huge increase in calls.

Like Cushing, Getlin attributes the rise to the economy and war.

“Calls are up 250 percent,” he said. “It’s not so much the season but two things. With the bad economy people have bills to pay and they can’t pay them, so they turn to damaging activities, like alcohol and drugs.

“There are also a lot of veterans returning, and suicide calls are up dramatically.”

As a Vietnam veteran, Getlin is especially sensitive to the needs of soldiers of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he gets some calls that would test the ability of any counselor.

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