43. Helping First Responders

That night I presented at a conference on suicide.  The presenter before me showed a brief video on what first responders face in a typical day.  He tied the alarming images to the rise in suicides among police, fire, and ambulance services.  Three people he knew personally had killed themselves, one in the parking lot of the firehouse.

I sat in the audience wondering what people could do to help.  I started a list. Certainly I could donate a little more when the local ambulance service asked.  Scenes of mayhem from the video suggested other ideas.

Don’t drink and drive.  Clean out the medicine cabinet.  Know what the kids are doing and who they’re with. Lock up guns. Don’t give into road rage. Agree to disagree, walk away, don’t use weapons to settle arguments. Set a good example. Don’t fund the violence of the drug trade. Help someone stay clean.  Advocate for services for the mentally ill.  The list went on.

Today I will not contribute to the mayhem.

Needles Not For Knitting is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Needles Not For Knitting (c) 2017 by Ken Montrose

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

http://www.amazon.com/Ken-Montrose/e/B001K8MG0S