OPINION/GUEST VIEW: At what number do RI leaders take action to install bridge barriers?

I am baffled.

From 2009-2018, there were at a minimum 33 bridge suicides in Bristol and Newport County. I do not have anything for 2019 and most of 2020. But from November 2020 until today, I am aware of 15 falls/suicides from our unprotected Mount Hope (c.1929), Pell (c. 1969) and Jamestown bridges. (c. 1940, c.1992). I’ll use my imagination as to how many have been lost since the bridges were erected.

Now, in less than a year, working with the local advocacy group Bridging the Gap for Safety and Healing, we have collected more than 5,500 signatures (and heading to 6K) in support of physical suicide prevention/fall barriers on the bridges. Stories have been covered by more than 40 international, national, regional and local media outlets. The world is watching and yet the silence from our Congressional delegation, Gov. McKee and General Assembly leaders is deafening. I shake my head in wonder. How many more deaths does it take? How many more signatures? At what magic number do our elected leaders finally take action?

Every bridge suicide represents an unforgiving loss that forever stays with the family, friends, co-workers, medical personnel, police, fire, harbormaster and military first responders, the ME’s office, the staff of RIE-911, the RI Bridge and Turnpike Authority, the communities where those we lost resided and so many more.

Picture this: at The Samaritans...

We know people lost to the bridges and we know survivors of bridge jumps.

We know people who are frightened for loved ones who have threatened to jump.

We know people who have witnessed bridge jumps.

We know people who have clung to potential bridge jumpers while waiting for help to arrive.

We know people who have found the bodies washed ashore sometimes here in Rhode Island and sometimes in far-away places.

We know people who watch as the bodies arrive at the dock after being recovered.

We know people who have searched the shoreline in hopes of finding their loved ones.

We know people whose loved ones were never found.

I am likely naïve but I so want to believe our elected leaders do not want anyone to have these experiences ever again.  I want to believe our elected officials can be our heroes by working to not only prevent suicide from our iconic bridges but work to humbly honor every life lost since the bridges were built.

Do barriers work? Yes, the Center for Disease Control not only has a full, peer-reviewed report, but the report recommends suicide prevention barriers as the most effective means of creating a safe environment on bridges while monitors, signage and telephones are supplements to barriers.

Barriers work on the Bourne and Sagamore bridges (c. 1985) where the Army Corp of Engineers reports seven deaths from 1984 and 2012 and zero since 2012.

Is it about the view? Barriers are not stopping anyone from moving to or visiting Cape Cod.

Do our leaders need to be personally touched by suicide? They already know family, friends and staff who have lost loved ones to our bridges or suicide by other means. They also know who suffers from behavioral health issues and who are caregivers.

While we know first-hand the need for more behavioral health staff and services, the never-ending battle for market share and third-party reimbursements should not prevent barriers from being installed.

The availability of federal COVID-19 funding presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use our state’s recognized talents in innovation and design to create cost-effective solutions to end the nightmare. The goal must be zero accidents, zero falls and zero suicides.

Before anything can happen, however, there must be a sense of urgency – because one more suicide from our bridges is one suicide too many. So, I ask once again, what is the magic number for our leaders to take action? After 21 years on the job and with all  I have experienced, I am baffled and still do not know the answer.

To sign the petition in support of barriers on Mount Hope, Pell and Jamestown Bridges, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/ribridgingthegap

Denise Panichas is the executive director The Samaritans of Rhode Island.

Emergency? Call 911. Need to talk? Call a volunteer at The Samaritans 401-272-4044 or 1-800-365-4044. To learn more about The Samaritans and its programs visit www.samaritansri.org

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: GUEST VIEW: When will RI leaders take action to install bridge barriers?