‘If I Take My Life’: Veteran's suicide over weekend revives calls for 'epidemic' to be addressed
JESSICA LEEDER ATLANTIC REPORTER
HALIFAX
PUBLISHED 21 HOURS AGO
There is no public list of military members or veterans who have taken their own lives. Telling stories of suicide is a long-held taboo in society and journalism. But social media has begun to shift the conversation and increasingly, mainstream media are reporting newsworthy deaths.
George Curtis is seen in 2013. Mr. Curtis was plagued with the nightmares, anxiety, hypervigilance and suicidal ideations that were symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder. FACEBOOK/GEORGE CURTIS
George Curtis was a man born to help.
The Prince Edward Island veteran regularly went out of his way to visit ill friends in need of a boost, would quietly pick up a stranger’s restaurant tab as a kindness and to the exasperation of his former wife, was known to re-home spiders found inside rather than squish them.
Privately, though, Mr. Curtis was under a mental siege, plagued with the nightmares, anxiety, hypervigilance and suicidal ideations that were symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder. Over the weekend, it was discovered that the 47-year-old father ended his fight – and what he told friends was a too-long wait for residential treatment – when he died by suicide.
Just one day after discovering Mr. Curtis, who died at his remote camp on PEI, his family and closest friends are speaking out about his suicide and what they argue is a need to help other veterans struggling with PTSD and suicidal thoughts by publicly acknowledging when a soldier takes his or her own life.
“This shouldn’t be a hidden issue,” said Dennis MacKenzie, a veteran with PTSD in PEI who counted Mr. Curtis as one of his closest friends. Last month, through the non-profit group Brave and Broken, Mr. MacKenzie launched a social media campaign titled “If I Take My Life,“ which is aimed at creating awareness of the suicide “epidemic plaguing our veterans.”
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Morally Wrong Awareness
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 4, 2018
What is so hard about "raising awareness" of anything? Getting publicity without doing much else. It is almost as if Americans in masses woke up one morning and decided they were chosen to talk about veterans committing suicide. Did it ever dawn on reporters it was unethical to just publicize these groups?
Definition of unethical
: not conforming to a high moral standard : morally wrong : not ethical illegal and unethical business practices immoral and unethical behavior
These groups got the idea it was a good thing to do, as well as an easy one, from reporters. After all, it was reporters grabbing the headline from the VA Suicide report, that started the frenzy. It did not matter that the VA stated clearly, it was limited data from just 21 states.
Not much mattered as long as they had their headline of "22 a day" referring to the number of veterans they thought were not worth much more than that.
They may have had good intensions but had really bad information. Did they bother to read the reports?
Americans lined up to get their tax exempt numbers and then called reporters to make sure they were noticed. Yet again, reporters did not seem to care about anything beyond whatever they were told. No questions asked.
It was so easy that soon there were over 400,000 charities focused on veterans. Yes, you read that right.
Donors who want to make contributions towards charitable programs that serve the military and veterans face an almost overwhelming volume of choices with, by some accounts, the existence of over 40,000 nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving the military and veterans and an estimated 400,000 service organizations that in some way touch veterans or service members. Even the 2013/2014 Directory of Veterans and Military Service Organizations published by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as an informational service for veterans seeking support lists over 140 national nonprofit organizations. Additionally, the number of new veterans charities has increased relatively rapidly over the past five years or so, growing by 41% since 2008 compared with 19% for charities in general, according to The Urban Institute as reported in a December 2013 The NonProfit Times article.
You would think that with all of them working to "help veterans" there would be no veteran left waiting for anything. Then again, you have to think that reporters were actually doing their jobs.
Over and over again, they go out and cover a group claiming to be "raising awareness" and over and over again, you read how many more veterans are being failed right in that same town.
More and more states reported a raise in veterans committing suicide at the same time there are about 5 million less veterans in the US than there were back in 1999 when the VA knew about 20 veterans committing suicide a day. Yes, again, you read that right.
Should pretty much prove that when it comes to reporters, they really don't know much at all. Next time you read about a group raising awareness in your area, contact the report and start asking them questions. You know, the same question they should have asked before they publicized the group.
Missing military vet suffering from PTSD missing for 3 days
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
By Anthony G. Attrino
June 4, 2018
The family of a missing military veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been desperately searching for him in North Jersey since late last week.
Thomas Podschelne
Thomas Podschelne, 59, left his Waldwick home on Friday and failed to show up to his job the next day at the Stop and Shop on Broad Street in Clifton.
"It's been three full days now so we're still anticipating him being around here," his daughter, Chelsea, said Monday morning. "We're still searching. Any info on his whereabouts would be a huge help."
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Death by suicide of paramedic who rushed to Quebec City mosque attack shines light on trauma risks for first-responders
The Star
By ALLAN WOODS Quebec Bureau
June 1, 2018
“They try to push through it. They go back to work and they push through it and they push through it and they push through it, until they can’t push through it anymore. That can be months or years down the line.” Dr. Jonathan Douglas
MONTREAL—In Lucie Roy’s retelling, the chain of events that led to her daughter’s suicide began with the burst of gunshots that killed six men and injured five others in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017.
Andréanne Leblanc, 31, was a paramedic who responded to the deadly Quebec City mosque shooting in January 2017. Her mother said the experience contributed to her suicide in March 2018. (FACEBOOK)
Andréanne Leblanc was on shift that Sunday night. She was one of the first paramedics to arrive at the bloody scene that greatly traumatized Canadians.
She and her work partner transported one of the victims to hospital. In the fear and confusion of that frigid winter night, as police hunted the armed and fleeing killer, they were told to prepare in case there were other victims.
Leblanc, 31, didn’t talk to her family about what she had experienced.
That seems to have been part of her nature.
Her grieving mother wants to draw attention to the mental health problems faced by her daughter and other emergency workers who work in difficult or potentially distressing conditions.
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Sanford woman charged after deadly hit-and-run at baseball game
by WGME
June 3rd 2018
Sharrow's car hit a closed gate and she drove back toward the main gate, where she struck Douglas Parkhurst, 68, of West Newfield before speeding away from the scene.
SANFORD (WGME) -- A Sanford woman faces a manslaughter charge after police say she struck and killed a West Newfield man after driving on to the field of a baseball game Friday night.
Carol Sharrow, 51, was arrested after police said she drove a car on to the field at Goodall Park shortly after 7 p.m. Friday.
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