Tag: suicide

By Logan Samuels The Frederick County Board of Health and Mental Hygiene wants to focus on treatment and research for specific health issues, but budgeting for the public health system prevents this. Frederick County Health Officer Dr. Barabara Brookmyer explained that a hot topic issue in Frederick is the suicide rate. For the last 12 years, Frederick County has had a higher suicide death rate than the state. Henry Westray, Jr., the former chair of the Governor’s Commission on Suicide Prevention, said that Governor Martin O’Malley established an executive order to focus on suicide awareness and prevention as a severe health issue in 2009. For three years, the Governor’s Commission on Suicide actively fought to establish services, hotlines, plans, support groups, and advocacy groups for at-risk groups. There are various Maryland based foundations and groups that focus on suicide prevention and intervention like the Mental Health Association of Maryland, the National Alliance on Mental Illness: Maryland and the American Foundation for Suicide: Maryland. O’Malley planned to...