BY GARRY LENTON
The Harrisburg Patriot-News
1/21/08
The message on the billboard off northbound Interstate 83 is simple and grim: Suicide kills more people than homicide and HIV/AIDS combined.
The point is to get the public over its reluctance to talk about suicide, which has a strong connection to mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder, said Heidi Bryan of the Feeling Blue Suicide Prevention Council. Feeling Blue paid for the campaign with a $100,000 Health Legislative Services Grant from the state Department of Health.
Billboards with various messages began appearing along highways and in railway stations in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Danville, Pittsburgh, and along the Pennsylvania Turnpike around Thanksgiving.
The Pittsburgh ad focuses on suicide among the elderly, while the billboard in northeast Philadelphia addresses teen suicide.
Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among teens, and the second-leading cause among young adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Harrisburg ad can be seen off northbound Interstate 83 between 17th Street and the Harrisburg Mall.
The text, on a bright blue background, reads: "Pennsylvania Deaths 2005, Suicide 1,404; Homicide, 741; HIV Disease, 358." It also includes the toll-free crisis number, 800-273-8255, and the council's Web address, www.feelingblue.org.
The message seems to be working.
"It caught my attention," said Dan Eisenhauer, administrator of the Dauphin County Office of Mental Health/Mental Retardation. "When you consider that twice as many people die by suicide as do by homicide, and all the media attention focused on homicide, I think it's an important way of pointing out the prevalence, if nothing else."
The campaign is patterned after a similar one Bryan saw while visiting Minnesota a few years ago. So far, the response has been good, she said.
"When the billboards went up, we could see an increase in [Internet] activity from where the billboards went," she said.
While the ads in other markets focus on suicide's impact on family and friends, Harrisburg's board is statistical, because the group wanted to get the attention of state lawmakers, Bryan said.
"It's a serious problem and it deserves funding," she said.
The ads are to come down this month, she said,
"but I'd like to do it again."
Upcoming
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* * * * * * * * *
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Wed., Feb. 20, 2008
9:00 AM
Rose Tree Place
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Sat., May 3, 2008
3rd Annual Delaware County Suicide Prevention
Awareness
5 Mile Fun Run & Walk
Ridley Creek State Park
Chester County
Youth Suicide
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Open House
Thurs., Feb. 7, 2008
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COAD
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(in the Whiteland Business Center)
Exton, PA 19341
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