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It's Only a Diaper Pin!
Apr. 2nd, 2010 | 03:32 pm
by Mike Moldeven
How might adolescents and teenagers of this 21st century relate to and communicate with grandparents and elders generally? Based on a mid-1980s encounter this vignette tells of an exchange during my chance meeting with a young adult. He was about eighteen; I was in my high 70s, also still a kid. The give-and-take had to be cleaned up a bit for this telling, and the dialogue rounded out and organized for continuity. Somewhat allegorical, the snapshot demonstrates welcome outreach when a young man or woman and a 75+er are willing to listen to each other. Many of us older folks have had comparable experiences; they deserve being entered into our lore. If nothing else, please read the 'excerpt' at the end.
~~~
The rain sheets swirled in from the south, bent, and lurched aimless as drunken ghosts across the campus. Wind lashed the high crowns of the eucalyptus, and dipped to whine along the corridors and passageways that cut through the patchwork of academic structures.
Back and legs lashed by fierce gusts, disoriented to the direction of my destination, I took refuge under the dome of a kiosk. Backing around opposite the driving rain, I doffed my cap to let the water drip; waiting was no problem. I scanned the dozens of leaflets clinging to the kiosk’s curved wall, overlapping each other like fish scales: notices of student events long past and yet to be, and places and things from urgently needed to available for the taking.
‘Hey, ol’ man.’
‘Yo.’ I glanced back. He was in the borderland between the rain and the shelter, leaning against a patch of soggy leaflets. About eighteen in years, six in height, and as skinny as a drenched cat. Tangled blond hair, defeated by the rain, plastered his scalp.
His black T-shirt was wet, as were his frayed and torn jeans and once-white running shoes. At his feet lay a deflated haversack caked with whatever it had been dragged through, probably since elementary school.
‘Whatcha doin’ out on a day like this.’
His flat voice matched the bored, couldn’t care less put-on that went with his years. Squatting, he drew a soil-brown cloth from the haversack and toweled his head and neck.
‘Library,’ I said. ‘Where’s it at?’
He motioned with the cloth. 'Behind that one with the big windows. I’m headin’ that way, too.’ He looked up at the sky. ‘Gonna let up in a coupla minutes. What’re you gonna do in the library?’
‘Check the latest Writer’s Market and LMP.’ I squinted closer at him and repeated, ‘LMP. Literary Market Place.’
‘What’ll they do for you?’
‘Point me in the right direction.’
‘What for?’
‘Peddle an article I wrote.’
‘Oh. Writer?’
‘Off’n on. Job. Retired now, but keep my hand in.’
‘Hey, man, I like writin’.’ He looked at me with interest. What’s it take?’
‘Writin’? Takes writin’, and rewritin’.’
‘C'mon, man. You’re tryin’ to sell one. Right?’
‘Yep.’
’So you’ve been there. Writin’ for the real world; doin’ somthin’ you want to. What’s it all about; like what are ya tryin’ t’sell?’
‘Industrial stuff,’ I said, dismissing it all with a shrug and a wave-off. ‘How to organize industrial tools to do a job, and then how to bring ‘em all together with materials, parts, and nuts and bolts to come up with the finished product.’
‘That’s technical writin’, huh?’
‘Yep. Well, sort of.’
‘Is technical writin’ hard to learn?’
‘People like you and me been doin’ it since cave-people first scratched pictures of rock-throwers on their walls. Finest kind training aid for their kids.’
I pointed to the printed and hand-scribed notes and graffiti in the patches of still exposed concrete.
‘Content may have changed, but the idea is still to get a message across. What about you? Ever tried that kind of writing?’
‘Technical stuff?’ His shoulders rose and fell. ‘Not much. Student, y’know. I do use trade manuals to tune the motor on my bike, and the manual has lists and drawings of tools and step-by-step instructions on how to do the job. Use ‘em all the time, but never thought about where they came from. You put that stuff together?’
‘Made my livin’ at it for a while before I retired. But, like I said, I’m a firehouse horse who keeps chasin’ fires even after being put out to pasture. In my blood, I guess.’
He snickered.
‘Tools in a repair manual,’ he said, ‘and all the different parts and instructions. How d’ya do it? Like, how’d you describe, for example, a tool?’
He scanned the sky as he spoke. The heavy overcast was lighter, and the wandering rain-ghosts had retreated to make way for drizzle. Rivulets snaked across the concrete quad from one puddle to the next, eventually over-brimming into a furrow that widened and deepened into a trench entering a conduit to a ditch or storm sewer somewhere off the campus.
‘Name a few tools,’ I said.
He grinned. ‘Pliers. Wrench. Screwdriver. OK?’
‘OK,’ I answered. ‘More.’
His eyes contemplated the drizzle, came back to stare at the wet walls of the kiosk, settled on his haversack, and stayed. I followed his glance. A 4-inch long, candy-striped, enamel-coated safety pin fastened down the flap of its side pocket.
‘Safety pin. Tool, right?’ he chuckled.’
‘Could be. How would you get ready to describe it?’
He stared at me, his face gone blank. ’How ‘to get ready’ to describe a safety pin? What’s this ‘get ready’ bit? It’s just a safety pin. You’re kiddin’.’
‘The heck I am,’ I said.’ You just called it a ‘tool’. If you’re going to describe it, know enough about it to find the words for the job. Words are also tools, whether they describe other tools, or tornadoes, toys, teeth, trees, or tractors.
‘Start with thinking about the readers; will they be in an outfit that makes specialized equipment to fabricate safety pins; will it be a safety pin huckster contacting customers by phone, personal contact or email, or how about some kid’s mom up-country in an underdeveloped country who never even heard about Velcro flaps on diapers, if she ever heard of diapers at all. Just assume the woman lives in a village where no one ever heard of safety pins until a K-Mart opened up alongside the town paddy. What I’m gettin’ at is: who’s the information for? How much do they really need to know in order to do what they want with the thing?’
The idea grabbed him and I let him lead. Backs against the kiosk wall, staring out at the drizzle but not seeing it, we analyzed a safety pin and how to lay the groundwork to describe it. He unfastened the pin from his haversack, and using it as the exhibit, we did a parts breakdown, then recalled what we could about the range of popular sizes; we estimated raw materials' requirements per hundred thousand units; debated how to cut the pin retainer clip from flat stock and form it around the wire firmly so that a child couldn’t separate one from the other; touched on features for machine tools to fabricate safety pins; then jumped to the economics of designing robotic machine tools and assembly lines to mass produce and corner the safety pin market.
We delved into designing a pin with enough stiffness in the wire so that the pointed end would not bend out of the clip head and keep the tip from accidentally disengaging; we laughed over deburring the parts so that Mom’s fingers and the baby’s fanny wouldn’t’ get scratched, and quickly agreed on the need to coat or pack the pins with a rust inhibitor to protect them from the corrosive effects of dank cloths in warm places. We explored packaging, marketing and replacement factors.
By now his hair was almost dry and he finger-combed it spikey.
‘Hey, ol’ man,’ he said, ‘this is a good rap, but it’s only a safety pin.’
‘Don’t knock it,’ I replied. ‘Safety pins, in one form or another, have been industrial and household tools for centuries and will be for many more. Anyhow, we’re using pins as an example, the same principles apply whether it’s a safety pin, a computer, TV, or space ship. Getting back to your part of the job, when you’ve got it all together, and understand it and the customer’s needs, then you’re close to starting the writin’ job.
‘Based on who wants to know, you might need to spell out what the parts are made from, their dimensions, the diameter of the spring loop, and the wire’s bending limits. You might need to describe the integrated clip head and the pin shaft and how they were attached.’
He stared at me, and his eyes widened in wonder at the boundless vistas I had opened. He was far beyond safety pins.
‘If you’re interested in technical writing,’ I continued, ‘keep in mind that collecting data and understanding it precedes the art of writing.’ I paused. ‘And when you do write, whatever you’re writing about - a safety pin or a space ship - do it with such care and precision that what you come up with can form the image you want in the mind of someone who has been both blind since birth and incapable of feeling anything with his or her hands. That’s the test.’
The look of discovery was replaced by skepticism. ‘Aw, c’mon, man, that can’t be the real world for technical writers,’ he said. ‘People who use tools learn by doing, or they follow a book. They see what they’re working’ on and feel things with their hands’
‘Let’s think about that,’ I said. ‘Millions of people who see poorly, or not at all, or who have other physical or sensory problems, use precision tools all the time. Many of them use tech data recorded on audio systems or in some variation of a touch data system. The entire field of communications to bypass sensory and physical limitations is just beginning to open up; it’s now part of your world. Data in dozens of arrangements, for design, training aids, or operating instructions are needed by folks who, very often, haven’t used the equipment before or who, for some other reason, need instruments and tech data right there, alongside, all the time. In this world of thousands of languages and dialects, and physical and mental limitations beyond counting, even basic tools, like a safety pin, need to be understood all along the line from designer to user. Understanding means communications; think about it.’
We shared silence for a while.
‘Hey, man, I like that,’ he said softly.
We glanced at the sky. The clouds were breaking up. As we abandoned our shelter under the dome, he shook his head. ‘All this for a safety pin,’ he said. The look of wonder was back, and became a grin.
‘A diaper pin?’
Raising my arm, I pumped my fist at the sky.’ Today, the diaper pin, tomorrow the world!’
We laughed. At the entrance to the library we shook hands and went our ways. I never saw him again, but I sometimes wonder what he chose for his life’s work.
~~~~
The following excerpt is from the Introduction to a list of free guides cited in a multi-address e-mail that I received July 13, 2006, Subject: ‘Free Guidelines from WGBH - Create Accessible Digital Media.’ It speaks for itself. Quote ‘Properly designed e-books, software, Web sites and learning management systems can and must be accessible to all users with disabilities. Technology is prevalent everywhere, and learners of all ages and in all fields require equal access to content to keep pace with their colleagues and classmates. Whether they are high school students, IT professionals or research chemists, inaccessible materials prevent people with disabilities from using the same materials at the same time as their peers, and can limit their educational and career opportunities. These guidelines, providing step-by-step solutions for making a variety of electronic media accessible to users with sensory disabilities, are now available free of charge at:
unquote
http://ncam.wgbh.org/invent_build/web_m
How might adolescents and teenagers of this 21st century relate to and communicate with grandparents and elders generally? Based on a mid-1980s encounter this vignette tells of an exchange during my chance meeting with a young adult. He was about eighteen; I was in my high 70s, also still a kid. The give-and-take had to be cleaned up a bit for this telling, and the dialogue rounded out and organized for continuity. Somewhat allegorical, the snapshot demonstrates welcome outreach when a young man or woman and a 75+er are willing to listen to each other. Many of us older folks have had comparable experiences; they deserve being entered into our lore. If nothing else, please read the 'excerpt' at the end.
~~~
The rain sheets swirled in from the south, bent, and lurched aimless as drunken ghosts across the campus. Wind lashed the high crowns of the eucalyptus, and dipped to whine along the corridors and passageways that cut through the patchwork of academic structures.
Back and legs lashed by fierce gusts, disoriented to the direction of my destination, I took refuge under the dome of a kiosk. Backing around opposite the driving rain, I doffed my cap to let the water drip; waiting was no problem. I scanned the dozens of leaflets clinging to the kiosk’s curved wall, overlapping each other like fish scales: notices of student events long past and yet to be, and places and things from urgently needed to available for the taking.
‘Hey, ol’ man.’
‘Yo.’ I glanced back. He was in the borderland between the rain and the shelter, leaning against a patch of soggy leaflets. About eighteen in years, six in height, and as skinny as a drenched cat. Tangled blond hair, defeated by the rain, plastered his scalp.
His black T-shirt was wet, as were his frayed and torn jeans and once-white running shoes. At his feet lay a deflated haversack caked with whatever it had been dragged through, probably since elementary school.
‘Whatcha doin’ out on a day like this.’
His flat voice matched the bored, couldn’t care less put-on that went with his years. Squatting, he drew a soil-brown cloth from the haversack and toweled his head and neck.
‘Library,’ I said. ‘Where’s it at?’
He motioned with the cloth. 'Behind that one with the big windows. I’m headin’ that way, too.’ He looked up at the sky. ‘Gonna let up in a coupla minutes. What’re you gonna do in the library?’
‘Check the latest Writer’s Market and LMP.’ I squinted closer at him and repeated, ‘LMP. Literary Market Place.’
‘What’ll they do for you?’
‘Point me in the right direction.’
‘What for?’
‘Peddle an article I wrote.’
‘Oh. Writer?’
‘Off’n on. Job. Retired now, but keep my hand in.’
‘Hey, man, I like writin’.’ He looked at me with interest. What’s it take?’
‘Writin’? Takes writin’, and rewritin’.’
‘C'mon, man. You’re tryin’ to sell one. Right?’
‘Yep.’
’So you’ve been there. Writin’ for the real world; doin’ somthin’ you want to. What’s it all about; like what are ya tryin’ t’sell?’
‘Industrial stuff,’ I said, dismissing it all with a shrug and a wave-off. ‘How to organize industrial tools to do a job, and then how to bring ‘em all together with materials, parts, and nuts and bolts to come up with the finished product.’
‘That’s technical writin’, huh?’
‘Yep. Well, sort of.’
‘Is technical writin’ hard to learn?’
‘People like you and me been doin’ it since cave-people first scratched pictures of rock-throwers on their walls. Finest kind training aid for their kids.’
I pointed to the printed and hand-scribed notes and graffiti in the patches of still exposed concrete.
‘Content may have changed, but the idea is still to get a message across. What about you? Ever tried that kind of writing?’
‘Technical stuff?’ His shoulders rose and fell. ‘Not much. Student, y’know. I do use trade manuals to tune the motor on my bike, and the manual has lists and drawings of tools and step-by-step instructions on how to do the job. Use ‘em all the time, but never thought about where they came from. You put that stuff together?’
‘Made my livin’ at it for a while before I retired. But, like I said, I’m a firehouse horse who keeps chasin’ fires even after being put out to pasture. In my blood, I guess.’
He snickered.
‘Tools in a repair manual,’ he said, ‘and all the different parts and instructions. How d’ya do it? Like, how’d you describe, for example, a tool?’
He scanned the sky as he spoke. The heavy overcast was lighter, and the wandering rain-ghosts had retreated to make way for drizzle. Rivulets snaked across the concrete quad from one puddle to the next, eventually over-brimming into a furrow that widened and deepened into a trench entering a conduit to a ditch or storm sewer somewhere off the campus.
‘Name a few tools,’ I said.
He grinned. ‘Pliers. Wrench. Screwdriver. OK?’
‘OK,’ I answered. ‘More.’
His eyes contemplated the drizzle, came back to stare at the wet walls of the kiosk, settled on his haversack, and stayed. I followed his glance. A 4-inch long, candy-striped, enamel-coated safety pin fastened down the flap of its side pocket.
‘Safety pin. Tool, right?’ he chuckled.’
‘Could be. How would you get ready to describe it?’
He stared at me, his face gone blank. ’How ‘to get ready’ to describe a safety pin? What’s this ‘get ready’ bit? It’s just a safety pin. You’re kiddin’.’
‘The heck I am,’ I said.’ You just called it a ‘tool’. If you’re going to describe it, know enough about it to find the words for the job. Words are also tools, whether they describe other tools, or tornadoes, toys, teeth, trees, or tractors.
‘Start with thinking about the readers; will they be in an outfit that makes specialized equipment to fabricate safety pins; will it be a safety pin huckster contacting customers by phone, personal contact or email, or how about some kid’s mom up-country in an underdeveloped country who never even heard about Velcro flaps on diapers, if she ever heard of diapers at all. Just assume the woman lives in a village where no one ever heard of safety pins until a K-Mart opened up alongside the town paddy. What I’m gettin’ at is: who’s the information for? How much do they really need to know in order to do what they want with the thing?’
The idea grabbed him and I let him lead. Backs against the kiosk wall, staring out at the drizzle but not seeing it, we analyzed a safety pin and how to lay the groundwork to describe it. He unfastened the pin from his haversack, and using it as the exhibit, we did a parts breakdown, then recalled what we could about the range of popular sizes; we estimated raw materials' requirements per hundred thousand units; debated how to cut the pin retainer clip from flat stock and form it around the wire firmly so that a child couldn’t separate one from the other; touched on features for machine tools to fabricate safety pins; then jumped to the economics of designing robotic machine tools and assembly lines to mass produce and corner the safety pin market.
We delved into designing a pin with enough stiffness in the wire so that the pointed end would not bend out of the clip head and keep the tip from accidentally disengaging; we laughed over deburring the parts so that Mom’s fingers and the baby’s fanny wouldn’t’ get scratched, and quickly agreed on the need to coat or pack the pins with a rust inhibitor to protect them from the corrosive effects of dank cloths in warm places. We explored packaging, marketing and replacement factors.
By now his hair was almost dry and he finger-combed it spikey.
‘Hey, ol’ man,’ he said, ‘this is a good rap, but it’s only a safety pin.’
‘Don’t knock it,’ I replied. ‘Safety pins, in one form or another, have been industrial and household tools for centuries and will be for many more. Anyhow, we’re using pins as an example, the same principles apply whether it’s a safety pin, a computer, TV, or space ship. Getting back to your part of the job, when you’ve got it all together, and understand it and the customer’s needs, then you’re close to starting the writin’ job.
‘Based on who wants to know, you might need to spell out what the parts are made from, their dimensions, the diameter of the spring loop, and the wire’s bending limits. You might need to describe the integrated clip head and the pin shaft and how they were attached.’
He stared at me, and his eyes widened in wonder at the boundless vistas I had opened. He was far beyond safety pins.
‘If you’re interested in technical writing,’ I continued, ‘keep in mind that collecting data and understanding it precedes the art of writing.’ I paused. ‘And when you do write, whatever you’re writing about - a safety pin or a space ship - do it with such care and precision that what you come up with can form the image you want in the mind of someone who has been both blind since birth and incapable of feeling anything with his or her hands. That’s the test.’
The look of discovery was replaced by skepticism. ‘Aw, c’mon, man, that can’t be the real world for technical writers,’ he said. ‘People who use tools learn by doing, or they follow a book. They see what they’re working’ on and feel things with their hands’
‘Let’s think about that,’ I said. ‘Millions of people who see poorly, or not at all, or who have other physical or sensory problems, use precision tools all the time. Many of them use tech data recorded on audio systems or in some variation of a touch data system. The entire field of communications to bypass sensory and physical limitations is just beginning to open up; it’s now part of your world. Data in dozens of arrangements, for design, training aids, or operating instructions are needed by folks who, very often, haven’t used the equipment before or who, for some other reason, need instruments and tech data right there, alongside, all the time. In this world of thousands of languages and dialects, and physical and mental limitations beyond counting, even basic tools, like a safety pin, need to be understood all along the line from designer to user. Understanding means communications; think about it.’
We shared silence for a while.
‘Hey, man, I like that,’ he said softly.
We glanced at the sky. The clouds were breaking up. As we abandoned our shelter under the dome, he shook his head. ‘All this for a safety pin,’ he said. The look of wonder was back, and became a grin.
‘A diaper pin?’
Raising my arm, I pumped my fist at the sky.’ Today, the diaper pin, tomorrow the world!’
We laughed. At the entrance to the library we shook hands and went our ways. I never saw him again, but I sometimes wonder what he chose for his life’s work.
~~~~
The following excerpt is from the Introduction to a list of free guides cited in a multi-address e-mail that I received July 13, 2006, Subject: ‘Free Guidelines from WGBH - Create Accessible Digital Media.’ It speaks for itself. Quote ‘Properly designed e-books, software, Web sites and learning management systems can and must be accessible to all users with disabilities. Technology is prevalent everywhere, and learners of all ages and in all fields require equal access to content to keep pace with their colleagues and classmates. Whether they are high school students, IT professionals or research chemists, inaccessible materials prevent people with disabilities from using the same materials at the same time as their peers, and can limit their educational and career opportunities. These guidelines, providing step-by-step solutions for making a variety of electronic media accessible to users with sensory disabilities, are now available free of charge at:
unquote
http://ncam.wgbh.org/invent_build/web_m
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Suicide Prevention—SPRC Newsletter, June 25, 2009
Jun. 25th, 2009 | 11:39 am
I am a private citizen/layperson on e-distribution of the 'Weekly SPARK' an e-publication of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). The SPRC home page, index, and complete copy of this June 25, 2009 issue [and more] is at:
http://www.sprc.org/about_sprc/index.as
The Weekly SPARK invariably contains information that deserves wide dissemination. Excerpted text, following, is verbatim. Please consider passing the information/links along to where content may be relevant or useful. This posting is consistent with principles of 'public service.'
Mike
~~~~~
The SPRC Weekly Spark – Week of June 25, 2009 [selected items]
SUICIDE PREVENTION TOOLKIT FOR RURAL PRIMARY CARE
This new product contains the information and tools needed to implement state-of-the-art suicide prevention practices in primary care settings. Although the tools are designed with the rural practice in mind, most are quite suitable for use in non-rural settings as well. By taking a systems approach, the kit offers the support necessary to establish the primary care provider as one member of a team, fully equipped to reduce suicide risk among their patients. The toolkit is available free through a web-based portal and was developed collaboratively by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program, with funding from the Health Resources Services Administration and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
For more information http://www.sprc.org/pctoolkit/index.a
~~~~~
NEW SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH DATA AVAILABLE FOR ANALYSIS
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA) provides free access to the most current and comprehensive national data on substance abuse and mental health. SAMHDA promotes the access and use of the nation's preeminent substance abuse and mental health research data by assuring accurate, public use data files and documentation to support a better understanding of this critical area of public health. SAMHDA is an initiative of the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA/i
~~~~~
NEW WEBINAR AVAILABLE FEDERAL AND STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION PRACTITIONERS
This webinar was created to help suicide prevention practitioners build an understanding of the legislative process so they can be better equipped to support initiatives in their own states and advocate for change at the national level. Federal and state legislative process for suicide prevention practitioners was sponsored by SPRC and presented by staff from SPAN USA (a division of AFSP). Brian Altman, Director of Public Policy and Program Development, provided insight on the federal process. Jason H. Padgett, Director of Community and Grassroots Outreach, outlined the different state legislative processes. The webinar was originally presented on June 15th.
For more information http://wm.yourcall.com/span/SPAN_06
~~~~~
RESEARCH SUMMARIES:
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
VOLUME 43, ISSUE 6 (2009)
Two studies add to the evidence that installing barriers at, or restricting access to, sites of frequent suicides by jumping decreases suicides at the sites. The first (Beautrais A.L., Gibb S.J., Fergusson D.M., Horwood L.J., & Larkin, G.L. (2009). Removing bridge barriers stimulates suicides: An unfortunate natural experiment. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(6), 495-497 reports that safety barriers were removed from a bridge in New Zealand in 1996, after they had been in place for 60 years. In the seven years following their removal, the number of suicide jumps from the bridge increased fivefold. In 2003 a new, improved barrier was installed; since then, there have been no suicide jumps from the bridge. The second report also comes from New Zealand (Skegg, K., & Herbison, P. (2009)). Effect of restricting access to a suicide jumping site. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(6), 498-502. Due to roadwork, a “suicide jumping hotspot” was closed to vehicular traffic. There were 13 confirmed or possible suicides at the site in the 10 years prior to road closure and none in the two years following road closure. No jumping suicides occurred elsewhere in the police district during the two-year post-closure period. Furthermore, the number of calls to the police for threatened suicide was halved after the road closure compared to before. These studies demonstrate the powerful effect that barriers to accessing popular sites for suicide jumps can have in modifying suicidal behaviors in a population. Whether or not substitution of means might occur, either in the short or long term, cannot be determined conclusively; however, limiting access to highly lethal means, even if it leads to substitution of a less lethal means, seems like a promising approach. Link to Abstract
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/conten
~~~~~
National News | State and Tribal News | International News
ALCOHOL A COMMON FACTOR IN SUICIDES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, JUN. 19, 2009
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that alcohol intoxication plays a role in a large number of suicides, particularly among younger adults. Researchers analyzed data on over 19,000 suicides from 17 states and found that one in four suicide victims whose blood alcohol levels were measured post mortem had been legally drunk at the time of death. Moreover, about a third of those tested had some level of alcohol in their bloodstream. Twenty-eight percent of younger adults (ages 20 to 49) were intoxicated at the time of death.
Link to Article
SPARK EXTRA! READ MORE ABOUT THE DATA GATHERED BY THE CDC, INCLUDING DIFFERENCES AMONG RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtm
~~~~~
VA’S SUICIDE PREVENTION MESSAGE CARRIED ON 21,000 BUSES, THE [CALIFORNIA] LAKE COUNTY NEWS, JUN. 20, 2009
Until September first, the telephone number for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention lifeline will appear on ads carried by more than 21,000 city buses in 124 U.S. communities. The new effort builds on a pilot program to market the lifeline through mass transit campaigns, which first took place in Washington DC last summer.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! See pictures of the bus advertisements
http://www.blulinemedia.net/11.html
~~~~~
State and Tribal News
CALIFORNIA : CALIFORNIA OFFERS UNIQUE MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR VETS RETURNING FROM WAR, WBIR , JUN. 22, 2009
In California, a new social and professional networking website called Network of Care is available to support veterans as they re-enter civilian life. The site allows veterans, their families, and community care providers to connect virtually, sharing experiences, advice, and referrals. The site may be particularly helpful for veterans who are feeling isolated or feel uncomfortable going to the Department of Veterans Affairs for help with mental health issues.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! Visit the Network of Care site for veterans
http://sacramento.networkofcare.org/vet
~~~~~
AUSTRALIA: WEBSITE AIMS TO HELP TEENS AFFECTED BY MENTAL ILLNESS, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN , JUN. 16, 2009
SANE Australia has developed a new website meant to engage teens affected by mental illness. The site features diary entries from four fictional teenagers who are living with a mentally ill family member or dealing with mental health issues of their own. The site also includes fact sheets and podcasts about mental illness, as well as an online point of contact to the SANE helpline.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! Explore the new website http://itsallright.org/
~~~~~
UNITED KINGDOM: PAINKILLER BAN “HAS CUT SUICIDES”, BBC NEWS, JUN. 18, 2009
In England and Wales, a two-year phase-out of the painkilling drug co-proxamol [Darvon with acetaminophen] has led to a drop in deaths (suicide and accidental) from the drug, without an associated rise in deaths from other painkillers. According to Keith Hawton, director of the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University, U.S. authorities are now considering withdrawing the drug. Hawton’s research found that before the phaseout was announced in 2005, a fifth of all drug-related suicides were caused by co-proxamol. Between 2005 and 2007, prescribing of the drug fell by 59 percent and deaths caused by the drug fell by 62 percent.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! Read the summary or full text of Hawton’s research on the co-proxamol ban and suicide http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abs
~~~~~ABOUT THE WEEKLY SPARK~~~~~ [verbatim from 'SPARK']
The Weekly Spark contains announcements and information about suicide, suicide prevention and mental health issues. We offer brief summaries of national, state and international news; analyses of relevant research findings; descriptions of funding opportunities, and links to additional resources. The Weekly Spark is written and edited by SPRC staff. Every effort is made to offer relevant and timely information with links to the original content as available.
We welcome your suggestions at
info@sprc.org
In general, the Weekly Spark does not include editorials, opinion pieces or information on local events. Events may be listed in the SPRC Calendar http://www.sprc.org/featured_resou
Subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Weekly Spark at this page http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/lis
The SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-04) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the information on this web site is intended or should be inferred.
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) is a project within EDC's Health & Human Development Programs (HHD) 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458 877-GET-SPRC (438-7772), info@sprc.org
~~~~~ ~~~~~
http://www.sprc.org/about_sprc/index.as
The Weekly SPARK invariably contains information that deserves wide dissemination. Excerpted text, following, is verbatim. Please consider passing the information/links along to where content may be relevant or useful. This posting is consistent with principles of 'public service.'
Mike
~~~~~
The SPRC Weekly Spark – Week of June 25, 2009 [selected items]
SUICIDE PREVENTION TOOLKIT FOR RURAL PRIMARY CARE
This new product contains the information and tools needed to implement state-of-the-art suicide prevention practices in primary care settings. Although the tools are designed with the rural practice in mind, most are quite suitable for use in non-rural settings as well. By taking a systems approach, the kit offers the support necessary to establish the primary care provider as one member of a team, fully equipped to reduce suicide risk among their patients. The toolkit is available free through a web-based portal and was developed collaboratively by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program, with funding from the Health Resources Services Administration and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
For more information http://www.sprc.org/pctoolkit/index.a
~~~~~
NEW SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH DATA AVAILABLE FOR ANALYSIS
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA) provides free access to the most current and comprehensive national data on substance abuse and mental health. SAMHDA promotes the access and use of the nation's preeminent substance abuse and mental health research data by assuring accurate, public use data files and documentation to support a better understanding of this critical area of public health. SAMHDA is an initiative of the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA/i
~~~~~
NEW WEBINAR AVAILABLE FEDERAL AND STATE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION PRACTITIONERS
This webinar was created to help suicide prevention practitioners build an understanding of the legislative process so they can be better equipped to support initiatives in their own states and advocate for change at the national level. Federal and state legislative process for suicide prevention practitioners was sponsored by SPRC and presented by staff from SPAN USA (a division of AFSP). Brian Altman, Director of Public Policy and Program Development, provided insight on the federal process. Jason H. Padgett, Director of Community and Grassroots Outreach, outlined the different state legislative processes. The webinar was originally presented on June 15th.
For more information http://wm.yourcall.com/span/SPAN_06
~~~~~
RESEARCH SUMMARIES:
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
VOLUME 43, ISSUE 6 (2009)
Two studies add to the evidence that installing barriers at, or restricting access to, sites of frequent suicides by jumping decreases suicides at the sites. The first (Beautrais A.L., Gibb S.J., Fergusson D.M., Horwood L.J., & Larkin, G.L. (2009). Removing bridge barriers stimulates suicides: An unfortunate natural experiment. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(6), 495-497 reports that safety barriers were removed from a bridge in New Zealand in 1996, after they had been in place for 60 years. In the seven years following their removal, the number of suicide jumps from the bridge increased fivefold. In 2003 a new, improved barrier was installed; since then, there have been no suicide jumps from the bridge. The second report also comes from New Zealand (Skegg, K., & Herbison, P. (2009)). Effect of restricting access to a suicide jumping site. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(6), 498-502. Due to roadwork, a “suicide jumping hotspot” was closed to vehicular traffic. There were 13 confirmed or possible suicides at the site in the 10 years prior to road closure and none in the two years following road closure. No jumping suicides occurred elsewhere in the police district during the two-year post-closure period. Furthermore, the number of calls to the police for threatened suicide was halved after the road closure compared to before. These studies demonstrate the powerful effect that barriers to accessing popular sites for suicide jumps can have in modifying suicidal behaviors in a population. Whether or not substitution of means might occur, either in the short or long term, cannot be determined conclusively; however, limiting access to highly lethal means, even if it leads to substitution of a less lethal means, seems like a promising approach. Link to Abstract
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/conten
~~~~~
National News | State and Tribal News | International News
ALCOHOL A COMMON FACTOR IN SUICIDES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, JUN. 19, 2009
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that alcohol intoxication plays a role in a large number of suicides, particularly among younger adults. Researchers analyzed data on over 19,000 suicides from 17 states and found that one in four suicide victims whose blood alcohol levels were measured post mortem had been legally drunk at the time of death. Moreover, about a third of those tested had some level of alcohol in their bloodstream. Twenty-eight percent of younger adults (ages 20 to 49) were intoxicated at the time of death.
Link to Article
SPARK EXTRA! READ MORE ABOUT THE DATA GATHERED BY THE CDC, INCLUDING DIFFERENCES AMONG RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtm
~~~~~
VA’S SUICIDE PREVENTION MESSAGE CARRIED ON 21,000 BUSES, THE [CALIFORNIA] LAKE COUNTY NEWS, JUN. 20, 2009
Until September first, the telephone number for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention lifeline will appear on ads carried by more than 21,000 city buses in 124 U.S. communities. The new effort builds on a pilot program to market the lifeline through mass transit campaigns, which first took place in Washington DC last summer.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! See pictures of the bus advertisements
http://www.blulinemedia.net/11.html
~~~~~
State and Tribal News
CALIFORNIA : CALIFORNIA OFFERS UNIQUE MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR VETS RETURNING FROM WAR, WBIR , JUN. 22, 2009
In California, a new social and professional networking website called Network of Care is available to support veterans as they re-enter civilian life. The site allows veterans, their families, and community care providers to connect virtually, sharing experiences, advice, and referrals. The site may be particularly helpful for veterans who are feeling isolated or feel uncomfortable going to the Department of Veterans Affairs for help with mental health issues.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! Visit the Network of Care site for veterans
http://sacramento.networkofcare.org/vet
~~~~~
AUSTRALIA: WEBSITE AIMS TO HELP TEENS AFFECTED BY MENTAL ILLNESS, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN , JUN. 16, 2009
SANE Australia has developed a new website meant to engage teens affected by mental illness. The site features diary entries from four fictional teenagers who are living with a mentally ill family member or dealing with mental health issues of their own. The site also includes fact sheets and podcasts about mental illness, as well as an online point of contact to the SANE helpline.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! Explore the new website http://itsallright.org/
~~~~~
UNITED KINGDOM: PAINKILLER BAN “HAS CUT SUICIDES”, BBC NEWS, JUN. 18, 2009
In England and Wales, a two-year phase-out of the painkilling drug co-proxamol [Darvon with acetaminophen] has led to a drop in deaths (suicide and accidental) from the drug, without an associated rise in deaths from other painkillers. According to Keith Hawton, director of the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University, U.S. authorities are now considering withdrawing the drug. Hawton’s research found that before the phaseout was announced in 2005, a fifth of all drug-related suicides were caused by co-proxamol. Between 2005 and 2007, prescribing of the drug fell by 59 percent and deaths caused by the drug fell by 62 percent.
Link to Article
Spark Extra! Read the summary or full text of Hawton’s research on the co-proxamol ban and suicide http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abs
~~~~~ABOUT THE WEEKLY SPARK~~~~~ [verbatim from 'SPARK']
The Weekly Spark contains announcements and information about suicide, suicide prevention and mental health issues. We offer brief summaries of national, state and international news; analyses of relevant research findings; descriptions of funding opportunities, and links to additional resources. The Weekly Spark is written and edited by SPRC staff. Every effort is made to offer relevant and timely information with links to the original content as available.
We welcome your suggestions at
info@sprc.org
In general, the Weekly Spark does not include editorials, opinion pieces or information on local events. Events may be listed in the SPRC Calendar http://www.sprc.org/featured_resou
Subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Weekly Spark at this page http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/lis
The SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-04) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the information on this web site is intended or should be inferred.
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) is a project within EDC's Health & Human Development Programs (HHD) 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458 877-GET-SPRC (438-7772), info@sprc.org
~~~~~ ~~~~~
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share
Suicide Prevention Resource Center SPARK Newsletter May 14, 2009
May. 15th, 2009 | 09:15 am
I am on e-distribution of SPARK, a Weekly Newsletter of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) at:
http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
My involvement with SPARK is as an unaffiliated private citizen passing along verbatim excerpts from public e-distributed SPARK that may have wide general interest. The excerpts below are from the SPARK May 14, 2009 issue.
SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-04) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the newsletter's content is intended or should be inferred.
~~~~~Excerpts~~~~~
1. Age variability in the association between heavy episodic drinking and adolescent suicide attempts: Findings from a large-scale, school-based screening program.
Aseltine, R., Schilling, E., James, A., Glanovsky, J., & Jacobs, D. (2009). Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 48(3), 262-270.
Surveys of over 30,000 students from 225 schools across the U.S. showed that heavy episodic drinking, or HED (defined as five or more drinks at one sitting) was more strongly associated with suicide attempts in younger students than in older high school students. “HED among adolescents aged 13 years and younger increased the risk for reporting a suicide attempt by 2.6 times,” according to the study’s authors, compared to only 1.2 times for adolescents aged 18 and older. Since the study found that HED was a significant predictor of suicide attempts independent of depressive symptoms, it “indicates that this was not merely a spurious relation emanating from the use of alcohol as self-medication for depression,” the authors added. The importance of screening for alcohol abuse in primary care settings and considering it to be an important risk factor for suicide is discussed.
Link to Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1918
~~~~~~
2. New report underscores women’s mental health concerns, CNN, May. 8, 2009
The Office on Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published Action Steps for Improving Women’s Mental Health, a new report that highlights mental health issues specific to women. The report calls for increased understanding of the role of gender in mental illness, and for improvements in the way mental illness is diagnosed and treated in women. Among the concerns discussed in the report are higher rates of major depression, anxiety disorders, and attempted suicide among women compared to men.
Link to Article
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/08/wo
~
Spark Extra! Get a copy of Action Steps for Improving Women’s Mental Health or the consumer booklet Women’s Mental Health: What it Means to You. [at]
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publicat
~~~~~~
3. Drinking while down may signal teen suicide risk, Reuters UK, May. 8, 2009
For adolescents, the tendency to drink alcohol when feeling sad or depressed may be a risk factor for attempting suicide - even among adolescents without previous suicidal ideation. Researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center who examined alcohol use and suicide attempts among students in grades 7 to 12 found that “drinking while down was associated with a 68% increase in (suicide) risk among adolescents who reported suicidal ideation,” while “drinking while down was associated with a threefold increase in risk” among students not reporting prior suicidal ideation, according to study author Elizabeth A. Schilling. The study results are summarized in the research section of this issue of the Weekly Spark (“Age Variability in the Association Between Heavy Episodic Drinking and Adolescent Suicide Attempts: Findings from a Large-scale, School-based Screening Program.")
Link to Article
http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNew
~~~~~~~~~~
To read the complete Weekly Spark, visit http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) EDC | 55 Chapel Street | Newton | MA | 02458 | Tel.: 877-GET-SPRC (438-7772) | Email: info@sprc.org
Mike
http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
My involvement with SPARK is as an unaffiliated private citizen passing along verbatim excerpts from public e-distributed SPARK that may have wide general interest. The excerpts below are from the SPARK May 14, 2009 issue.
SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-04) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the newsletter's content is intended or should be inferred.
~~~~~Excerpts~~~~~
1. Age variability in the association between heavy episodic drinking and adolescent suicide attempts: Findings from a large-scale, school-based screening program.
Aseltine, R., Schilling, E., James, A., Glanovsky, J., & Jacobs, D. (2009). Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 48(3), 262-270.
Surveys of over 30,000 students from 225 schools across the U.S. showed that heavy episodic drinking, or HED (defined as five or more drinks at one sitting) was more strongly associated with suicide attempts in younger students than in older high school students. “HED among adolescents aged 13 years and younger increased the risk for reporting a suicide attempt by 2.6 times,” according to the study’s authors, compared to only 1.2 times for adolescents aged 18 and older. Since the study found that HED was a significant predictor of suicide attempts independent of depressive symptoms, it “indicates that this was not merely a spurious relation emanating from the use of alcohol as self-medication for depression,” the authors added. The importance of screening for alcohol abuse in primary care settings and considering it to be an important risk factor for suicide is discussed.
Link to Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1918
~~~~~~
2. New report underscores women’s mental health concerns, CNN, May. 8, 2009
The Office on Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published Action Steps for Improving Women’s Mental Health, a new report that highlights mental health issues specific to women. The report calls for increased understanding of the role of gender in mental illness, and for improvements in the way mental illness is diagnosed and treated in women. Among the concerns discussed in the report are higher rates of major depression, anxiety disorders, and attempted suicide among women compared to men.
Link to Article
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/08/wo
~
Spark Extra! Get a copy of Action Steps for Improving Women’s Mental Health or the consumer booklet Women’s Mental Health: What it Means to You. [at]
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publicat
~~~~~~
3. Drinking while down may signal teen suicide risk, Reuters UK, May. 8, 2009
For adolescents, the tendency to drink alcohol when feeling sad or depressed may be a risk factor for attempting suicide - even among adolescents without previous suicidal ideation. Researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center who examined alcohol use and suicide attempts among students in grades 7 to 12 found that “drinking while down was associated with a 68% increase in (suicide) risk among adolescents who reported suicidal ideation,” while “drinking while down was associated with a threefold increase in risk” among students not reporting prior suicidal ideation, according to study author Elizabeth A. Schilling. The study results are summarized in the research section of this issue of the Weekly Spark (“Age Variability in the Association Between Heavy Episodic Drinking and Adolescent Suicide Attempts: Findings from a Large-scale, School-based Screening Program.")
Link to Article
http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNew
~~~~~~~~~~
To read the complete Weekly Spark, visit http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) EDC | 55 Chapel Street | Newton | MA | 02458 | Tel.: 877-GET-SPRC (438-7772) | Email: info@sprc.org
Mike
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share
Grandpa's Read-Aloud 'Passover' Story
Mar. 20th, 2009 | 10:57 am
by Great-Grandpa Meyer Moldeven
In the mid-1980s I wrote a read-aloud story for my young, too-faraway grandchildren about a family preparing their home to observe the traditional springtime festival of Passover. Their parents read the story to them garnished with reminiscences of their own childhood. For years afterward, when I visited from afar and the timing was right, my grandchildren would take me along to school as their show-and-tell. My assignment was to read or tell a story or selections and answer questions, assisted, of course by the teacher or the school librarian. This is one of my several grandpa 'read alouds'.
Comparable tales are often drawn from the daily lives, lore and history of almost every family and culture. The storyteller weaves in the realities of a family's history and experiences, along with background events, myths, traditions and customs that fascinate children. Consider your own childhood as a source for a story about preparing for a holiday with your family and community. Chronicle the family’s preparations for the event's routines, and their interactions within the extended family. You will be impressed at the story's reception by young and old, including the generation in the middle.
Here, the themes of Sholem Aleichem's 'The Passover Eve Vagabonds', 'The Ruined Passover' and memories of my childhood are blended into a story about a five-year old boy's innocent, light-hearted exploration into what makes a holiday. In this narration the storyteller escorts the audience into a mid-19th century East European village from the onset of preparations to the opening rituals of the Passover Festival.
You can do the same with one of your own cultural or national holidays or festivals, also important events within the family like anniversaries.
Please consider sharing this story with others that might read it for themselves, their progeny, friends and neighbors, residents of day care centers, and the young-and-old wherever they may be. It's a win-win experience.
#
The Setting
The location is Kasrilevke, a community somewhere in the shifting borderlands of what are now the Baltic nations, Poland, Russia, the Ukraine and other independent nations that replaced the former Soviet Union. A community might have been an enclosure, a town, part of a district or city, but always a place where the residents lived close together.
In one context, this is a story for children, in another, it is 'remembrance.'
~~~
It was a couple of days after Purim, and Mama was tying her apron. 'Purim is behind us for this year,' she said. 'Now we must clean our house to make it ready for Passover.'
I watched Mama carefully inspect the parlor, moving from one corner to the other looking like a chicken about to lay an egg. A few days later I saw fresh straw on the parlor floor and a few boxes stacked along one wall. Strings of onions hung in one corner of the room, and on one of the boxes stood a small barrel covered with a white cloth.
Mama called Father and me to the parlor doorway and, first wagging her finger sternly at Father and then at me she warned us about three dozen times, 'Don't either of you dare set foot in the parlor. Don't even look at its door from a distance, or breathe in its direction.'
Turning, she closed the door she was talking about, and facing us again, gently but firmly pushed us in a way that left no doubt in my mind that she meant, 'Remove yourselves at once from this place.'
'With all due respect,' Mama called after us,' bid a hearty good-bye to the parlor until Passover.'
'The house is fine just as it is,' I said to Father as we were leaving. 'Why is all this happening?'
In the kitchen, Father sat me on a chair and lowered himself into another nearby. Passover is an important Springtime festival,' he answered. 'Cleaning the house thoroughly and removing all leaven means that we are making a fresh start; we are ridding ourselves of whatever is not pure for Passover.'
From that moment on, the parlor had an irresistible attraction for me. I had a constant and overpowering desire to see with my own eyes what had suddenly become forbidden to even look upon. That very day, while munching on my afternoon snack -- a piece of bread smeared with chicken fat -- I defiantly dashed to the parlor door, pushed it wide open, and stood in the doorway to begin my adventure of exploring the great mystery of Passover.
The parlor was brightly lit with sunlight streaming in through a crystal-clear window framed by white curtains. The walls and ceiling had been freshly whitewashed. Along one wall stood our wooden sofa, its color and grain like that of a violin; in the middle of the room was the same round table as always, with its surrounding chairs and benches neatly spaced.
'What are you doing here?' Mama's voice came from right above me, very stern. 'Standing with bread at the Passover door? Oh, my goodness!' and with two sharp pinching fingers she led me by my left ear to Father.
'Here,' Mama ordered Father. 'Take a good look at your son. I just caught him, with bread in his hands -- bread, mind you -- standing right there in the doorway of my parlor which has been cleaned for Passover, and where I now keep the Passover borsht.'
Father shook his head, saying, as he gave me a severe look, 'Tsk, tsk, you did a bad thing.'
As Mama turned to leave, I noticed a sly grin on Father 's face. Mama glanced back over her shoulder, and he immediately put his serious look back on. Taking me by the hand, he brought me close, lifted me onto the chair beside him, and told me not to look in the parlor again. ' It is forbidden,’ he said.
'Not even from far away?' I asked.
But Father didn't hear me. He had returned to his book, deep in thought and silent study.
A few days later, I sneaked back to the parlor and peeked through a crack near the bottom of the door. Mama had passed through that doorway many times since she hauled me away by my ear. Looking through, and twisting my head from side to side to see better, I made out a set of brand new dishes, shining pots, bottles, and a meat salting board. The crack in the door was narrow; I couldn't see beyond its edges to where I just knew would be stacks and sacks and bundles and packages of new Passover utensils, special foods, clothing, and perhaps even a gift for me. I saw again the ropes of onions strung on the wall; they added a special charm to the room.
I danced away; our home was getting ready for Passover! Passover! Passover!
More days passed.
'Perhaps I can trouble your honors to move yourselves and your books out of here to the big alcove?' Mama's politeness was really an order. She was dressed in white, had a white kerchief on her head, and held a long broom. Bending her head back, she ignored us and began to inspect the ceiling.
‘Sosil,’ she called out. ' Come here with the brush. Get a move on, Sosil, show your face.'
Sosil, our maid, came in wearing a white cloth on her head just like Mama. She had a wet rag, a long-handled brush, and a pail filled almost to the brim with whitewash. Dipping the brush in the pail, she slapped chalky liquid across the ceiling and along the walls with short strokes. I stood there, watching.
They didn't let me watch for long. First they told me that a young boy wasn't supposed to just stand around and watch a ceiling being whitewashed, even though it was for Passover. I didn't take the hint. Finally, sounding real busy, Mama said, 'Listen here, young man, how about you heading for the alcove?'
Taking me by the shoulders, Mama steered me in the direction she wanted me to go. I went, but since I wasn't at all eager to give up watching I circled back. Seeing me return, Sosil strode over, placed her hands on her hips, towering over me like the giant in a story.
'What a child,' she scolded at me, 'always getting underfoot!'
Mama looked up from what she was doing. 'Go, for goodness sake,' she said to me, 'go to your father.'
Sosil reached out, grabbed me, laughed, dabbed whitewash on the tip of my nose and pushed me toward the door, saying, 'and I’ve never seen such a stubborn child in my life.'
'This is no time to play games,' Mama said sternly, and lightly paddled my rump as I passed.
I joined Father wearing my sad face, looking like a wet kitten. He glanced up from his book, patted my shoulder to console me, lifted me to his lap, and returned to his studying.
'Excuse me,' Sosil's voice came from the doorway, ' the lady of the house told me to tell you to move to the pantry.'
Sosil came into the alcove loaded with her equipment. She was as white as a ghost from the splattering and drippings, which had clung to her from whitewashing ceilings and walls. Father and I took one look at her, and instantly retreated to the pantry, a place no bigger than a yawn.
I would like you to understand that Sosil was also a relative, and had been with us for many years. 'When I came here,' she once told me, 'you were not yet born. You grew up under my care. If it weren't for me you'd be who knows where. Whenever there was a tumult, a fracas, or any kind of a mess, you were in the middle of it and I had to go charging in to save you.'
She would always end with, 'Well now, don't you deserve a thrashing?' and give me a bear hug.
That's how Sosil used to treat me, paddling me, not hard or mean, though, and sometimes tugging at my hair, and then, just the opposite, wrapping me in an almost smothering embrace. Mama and Father never protested, and never took my part. Sosil did whatever she pleased with me, just as if I were hers, not theirs. But then, as I say, Sosil was family.
Anyhow, Father and I were now in the pantry. I wandered to a corner and sat on the floor, looking at Father as he rubbed his forehead, chewed his beard, swayed, and sighed, 'Well, that's how it is....'
It seemed that only a few minutes passed before Sosil showed up, again holding or dragging her tools. Her look told us it was time for us to move on.
'Where to this time?' asked Father, by now completely bewildered.
‘How do I know?' Sosil shrugged, dipped the brush and slapped whitewash against one of the walls, causing splatters that arced through the air almost to where Father and I were sitting.
'Into the little storeroom, both of you,' said Mama from the pantry doorway. With her long broom and a new feather duster she looked like a fully armed enemy in a surprise attack.
'The storeroom is as cold as a stone.' Father tried to beg his way out.
Appeals didn't help. We had to gather ourselves up and move to the storeroom where we both shivered from its chill.
The storeroom was also narrow and dark. Two people could hardly stand without stepping on each other's toes. Even so, it was a Paradise for me; there were shelves on all sides just begging to be climbed. But Father wouldn't let me; he said I'd fall and break my neck. I paid no attention to him. No sooner was he into his books and I was up on the first, the second, and-quick as a flash--on the top shelf. I was standing, too.
'Cock-a-doodle-doo!' I crowed loudly, wanting to show Father my great talent. I raised my head quickly as I crowed and before I knew it, I banged the top of my head against the ceiling. I hit with such force that the shock practically knocked my teeth out.
Father became alarmed, reached up, hauled me down, and looked and felt to see if I was bleeding. A moment later Sosil, followed by Mama, rushed in and both tore into us like we had done something wrong. My own yelling and squirming didn't help.
'Did you ever see such a wild boy?' Mama asked.
'That's no boy. That's a little demon,' Sosil replied. As soon as they were certain that I wasn't too badly hurt, Sosil folded her arms and informed us that in a little while we'd be asked to move to the kitchen. The whitewashing in the rest of the house had been finished and the room we were standing in was last.
Off we went again. In the kitchen we were joined by our neighbor, big-browed Moshe Ber, who sat with Father on the dairy bench. They poured their hearts out to each other.
Father complained in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the house about all the traveling he had done just getting ready for Passover. 'For the past few days,' he shouted, winking at Moshe Ber, 'I've been sent packing from one place to another. I've become a vagabond in my own home; I am in exile, tramping from one place to the next.'
Moshe Ber grinned at my father as he replied just as loudly, 'That's nothing. I have it much worse. I've been kicked out of my house entirely.'
They both chuckled and nudged each other with their elbows. From the other room came the sound of Mama and Sosil laughing.
Our gray cat, licking its paws on a bench near the stove, was more interesting. Sosil said that a cat licking its paws meant that a guest was coming. I still cannot understand how a cat could know that we're going to have company. Anyhow, I went to the cat to tease her for a while. First, I wanted to touch her paw; nothing doing. Then I tried to get her to beg, standing her up on her hind legs; she didn't like that either.
'Stand up on your hind legs, 'I ordered her and tapped lightly on the tip of her nose. She closed her eyes, turned away, stuck out her tongue, and yawned as if to say, 'Why does this boy bother me so? What does he want of my life?' Being ignored like this annoyed me. Why does this silly cat act like a stubborn mule? I kept teasing her until suddenly she bared her sharp claws and scratched the back of my hand.
'Mama, help,' I yelled. Mama and Sosil rushed in. They made an uproar over the scratch, and I got a finger-wagging tongue-lashing from both of them.
'Next time you'll know not to tease cats,' Mama said.
Cats? All told we had one little pussycat and they warned me about ' CATS!' like we lived in a jungle.
'Go wash up,' Mama instructed Father, 'and take your son along. Today's lunch will be in the cellar.'
Sosil took the poker and started moving the pots around on the stove, at first paying no attention to my father, Moshe Ber, or me. Finally, with just one impatient glare she got her message across to Moshe Ber that on the afternoon just before Passover a man's proper place did not include the homes of neighbors who were, themselves, very busy preparing for the holiday. Moshe Ber quickly took the hint, rose, and said good-bye. As soon as he departed, Father, Mama, Sosil and I went down to the cellar for our day-before-Passover lunch.
I couldn't understand, on our way down the cellar stairs, why Father made faces, shrugged his shoulders, and grumbled, 'What a vagabond life! 'That surprised me. What sort of catastrophe was it having lunch in the cellar? How could the mouth-watering fragrance from barrels of pickles and cabbages, and the yeasty aroma from the crocks of souring dairy products, harm anyone? Also, what was so terrible about making a table out of two upside-down barrels and a breadboard, and using broken barrels and boxes for chairs?
A lunch, a snack, or any meal, for that matter, in a cellar couldn't help but be a lot of fun. It would give me a chance to ride a barrel. I did wonder, though, what would happen if the barrel rolled sideways too fast and I fell off? Well, I decided, if I fell off I would just climb back up and ride on.
My only trouble was that Sosil would be watching. I moved fast; before Sosil could interfere I was up and away, riding the nearest barrel like a real horseman heading into the sunset.
'A new game,' Sosil called out. 'The blunderer wants to break his leg.'
That was nonsense. I no more wanted to break my leg than Sosil wanted to break hers. I don't know what she wanted of me. She always picked on me and looked on the dark side. If I ran, she said I'd crack my skull; if I went near anything, she said I'd smash it; if I chewed on a button, she would have a fit and shout at whoever was nearby, 'The blunderhead is going to choke himself.'
But I had a way of getting even with Sosil; the moment I became even slightly sick she turned the world upside down fussing over me, not knowing if she was coming or going.
The lunch in the cellar went very well and was soon behind us. 'Now, take the child upstairs,' Mama said to Father after we had finished. 'We have to clean the leaven out of the cellar, and then start gathering food for the festival meal.' Before Father could ask Mama where we were supposed to go she pointed to the stairs, 'Up. Up to the attic for a couple of hours.'
Sosil added quickly, 'See to it that the little bungler doesn't slip and break his bones.' She hurried me out with a push from behind. 'Well, get a move on, bungler. Move.'
Father followed me and I heard him grumbling, 'The attic. What next? There's a vagabond Gypsy's life for you.'
What a strange one Father was. Going up to the attic displeased him. If it were up to me, I'd like every week to be the week before Passover so that I could climb the stairs all the way up to the attic. Even the climb up was fun. At any other time I could plead for hours and they wouldn't let me go up to the attic or play on its staircase. Now I scrambled up the stairs like an imp, actually ordered to go. Father came after me, repeating, 'Take it easy. Take it slowly,' but who took it slowly? I felt as if I had wings and was flying up.
You ought to see our attic. The place was jammed with treasures: smashed and dusty lamps, cracked and broken pots, and torn and rotting clothes so old you couldn't tell if they were men's or women's. Along one side were closed trunks and wooden boxes which must have been loaded with many mysteries. I found an old strip of fur: as soon as I touched it, it crumbled to powder.
There were pages from old sacred books, a twisted exhaust pipe from a brass samovar, a sack full of feathers, a rusty strainer, and an old palm-branch leaning against a post. I sat under the palm-branch, rustled its dried leaves and imagined I was in a jungle tracking and trapping fierce beasts.
There was also, of course, the shingled roof. Close to the walls where the roof's slant brought it down within my reach, I touched the shingles with my hands. Being able to touch a roof with your own hands at the same time your feet are solidly standing on a floor is really having a long reach. Right?
Father sat down on a crossbeam, picked up a few loose pages from a book that had fallen apart, arranged them in some sort of order, and began to read. I moved to the little attic window and looked out far and wide at our village, Kasrilevke. I saw all the houses and their roofs: black, gray, red, and green. The people walking in the streets seemed tiny and far away. Certainly, ours was the finest village in the world.
Nearby, along our street and in our own courtyard, I saw neighbors washing and scrubbing, scraping and polishing, making their tables and benches kosher for Passover. They carried huge pots of boiling water, heated irons, and red-hot bricks, all of which gave off a white vapor that tumbled and curled and faded away like smoke.
The smell of spring was in the air, streams twisted along in the gutters, goats bleated, and a man wearing cord-wrapped boots plodded through the ankle-deep springtime mud leading a white horse that pulled a two-wheeled wagon. It was Azriel the Wagoner, an old man and an old horse dragging an old wagon. Azriel the Wagoner was making a delivery on our street.
'Hello, up there,' we heard Sosil call from the foot of the stairs. 'Sorry to trouble you but you'll have to come down. We have a job for the both of you. You're being called on by the lady of the house to air the books.'
Father stood up. I dashed from the window to the attic door, and down the rickety stairs we went, bursting into the kitchen.
Warnings came at us from all sides as soon as we appeared. 'Get away from the Passover cupboard with your bread-stained clothes. Easy there! You're stepping on a Passover sack.'
'Don't even look in that direction, either of you.'
'Be careful! Be careful! You're endangering the Passover borsht!'
Father and I scurried from one spot to another and we were still underfoot as far as Mama and Sosil were concerned. They steered me from here to there and back, loaded me with books, and urged Father on until we were both outside with all the books we possessed.
Outside, we dusted the old books gently with a cloth, stopping now and then to look inside the covers.
Standing there together, Father bent over so that I could see into the books. He pointed to letters and showed me how they formed into words; he explained the pictures to me. We had a good time.
Finally, the books were all aired and dusted and we handed each one carefully to Mama and Sosil, who were waiting in the doorway to take them. They returned the books to their newly scrubbed and freshly lined places on the bookshelf. Father and I then sat on the bench outside, waiting for the next command, which wasn't long in coming. It was now getting close to evening.
Mama was back in the open doorway. 'The house is ready for inspection by the Lord and Master,’ she said, her arms folded, a stern look on her face, but her eyes twinkling. She held out two pairs of slippers to Father.
'First, both of you remove your shoes and put on these slippers,' she said. 'I've scrubbed all traces of leaven from them and will allow you to wear them inside for the inspection.'
Father put on his serious-business face. Mama held out a candle, a match, a large wooden spoon, and a feather duster. Father and I sat on the bench and changed to the slippers. Standing, Father took the candle and the match and pointed to me to take the wooden spoon and the feather duster. He lit the candle with the match, waved to me to follow, then raised the candle high while saying a blessing and, with me holding the spoon and duster, we marched inside with great dignity. We were going to make sure that our home was clean enough for Passover.
I followed Father as he strode about. He looked very important, leaning over to inspect one corner after another, and then peering closely along shelves and into cupboards.
Mama and Sosil followed close behind us, observing Father's every move. Suddenly Father leaned over, poked his finger at something, and rose to his full height, frowning silently at Mama. He held out his hand to me for the spoon, took it, and passed his hand over the ladle. Mama looked at the bottom of the ladle and gasped; Sosil looked first at the ceiling and then lowered her eyes to stare at the floor.
Father motioned me closer so that I could see what he had discovered. At the bottom of the spoon was the tiniest, tiny crumb of bread. I learned soon afterwards that this was Father's and Mama's serious game: he would secretly hide tiny bits of leaven deep in the corner of a window sill and in other crannies for this final pre-Passover search.
Mama and Sosil always knew, in advance, where Father would hide the leaven, and would leave it untouched just for this game. I was now one of the players in this serious game, making it a family game. Father told me that it would be my job to join him each year to inspect the house before Passover to make certain no leaven remained.
Father wrapped the leaven in a bit of paper to be removed from our home. His task done, he blew out the candle flame, and returned it along with the wooden spoon and the feather duster to Sosil. The leaven would be burned outside the following morning along with the last bits of leaven from our neighbors. Sosil went at where the bread crumb had been, wiping the place hard with a damp cloth.
Our home was now ready for Passover, spotless and kosher. The next afternoon the table was set and the wine cups smiled at me from afar. The aroma of Passover-cooked food was all through the house. It was time to bathe, dress, and prepare ourselves.
Later that same evening, Father sat in his place at the table like a king, dressed in a white linen robe, his satin hat on the top of his head and a pillow in his chair. Mama, the queen, sat beside him, wearing her splendid wedding dress, a silk kerchief, and a necklace of pearls that seemed to glow in the candles' lights; Mama was so charming. I, the prince, sat opposite them, wearing my new clothes. Alongside me sat Sosil, wearing a new dress and a starched apron that rustled when she moved.
'This bread of affliction,' sang the king in his fine voice as the queen, her face shining like a star, helped him lift the plate with the matzoths. Sosil looked on, smiling, her hands in her lap.
Everyone was in high spirits; everyone was in a holiday mood.
'This year we are slaves, but next year we shall be free men,' the king sang proudly, making himself comfortable on the pillow.
The room became silent. Father, Mama and Sosil turned their eyes to me. It was time for the prince to speak. I rose to my feet and began, 'Wherefore is this night different from all other nights...?'
Later, after our meal, Father asked me to open the door of our home wide so that the Prophet Elijah might enter. I ran to do so and rushed back to watch Elijah's wine goblet, that had been filled to the brim. I saw no change, but Mama smiled at me, and I knew we had been graced by his visit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the mid-1980s I wrote a read-aloud story for my young, too-faraway grandchildren about a family preparing their home to observe the traditional springtime festival of Passover. Their parents read the story to them garnished with reminiscences of their own childhood. For years afterward, when I visited from afar and the timing was right, my grandchildren would take me along to school as their show-and-tell. My assignment was to read or tell a story or selections and answer questions, assisted, of course by the teacher or the school librarian. This is one of my several grandpa 'read alouds'.
Comparable tales are often drawn from the daily lives, lore and history of almost every family and culture. The storyteller weaves in the realities of a family's history and experiences, along with background events, myths, traditions and customs that fascinate children. Consider your own childhood as a source for a story about preparing for a holiday with your family and community. Chronicle the family’s preparations for the event's routines, and their interactions within the extended family. You will be impressed at the story's reception by young and old, including the generation in the middle.
Here, the themes of Sholem Aleichem's 'The Passover Eve Vagabonds', 'The Ruined Passover' and memories of my childhood are blended into a story about a five-year old boy's innocent, light-hearted exploration into what makes a holiday. In this narration the storyteller escorts the audience into a mid-19th century East European village from the onset of preparations to the opening rituals of the Passover Festival.
You can do the same with one of your own cultural or national holidays or festivals, also important events within the family like anniversaries.
Please consider sharing this story with others that might read it for themselves, their progeny, friends and neighbors, residents of day care centers, and the young-and-old wherever they may be. It's a win-win experience.
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The Setting
The location is Kasrilevke, a community somewhere in the shifting borderlands of what are now the Baltic nations, Poland, Russia, the Ukraine and other independent nations that replaced the former Soviet Union. A community might have been an enclosure, a town, part of a district or city, but always a place where the residents lived close together.
In one context, this is a story for children, in another, it is 'remembrance.'
~~~
It was a couple of days after Purim, and Mama was tying her apron. 'Purim is behind us for this year,' she said. 'Now we must clean our house to make it ready for Passover.'
I watched Mama carefully inspect the parlor, moving from one corner to the other looking like a chicken about to lay an egg. A few days later I saw fresh straw on the parlor floor and a few boxes stacked along one wall. Strings of onions hung in one corner of the room, and on one of the boxes stood a small barrel covered with a white cloth.
Mama called Father and me to the parlor doorway and, first wagging her finger sternly at Father and then at me she warned us about three dozen times, 'Don't either of you dare set foot in the parlor. Don't even look at its door from a distance, or breathe in its direction.'
Turning, she closed the door she was talking about, and facing us again, gently but firmly pushed us in a way that left no doubt in my mind that she meant, 'Remove yourselves at once from this place.'
'With all due respect,' Mama called after us,' bid a hearty good-bye to the parlor until Passover.'
'The house is fine just as it is,' I said to Father as we were leaving. 'Why is all this happening?'
In the kitchen, Father sat me on a chair and lowered himself into another nearby. Passover is an important Springtime festival,' he answered. 'Cleaning the house thoroughly and removing all leaven means that we are making a fresh start; we are ridding ourselves of whatever is not pure for Passover.'
From that moment on, the parlor had an irresistible attraction for me. I had a constant and overpowering desire to see with my own eyes what had suddenly become forbidden to even look upon. That very day, while munching on my afternoon snack -- a piece of bread smeared with chicken fat -- I defiantly dashed to the parlor door, pushed it wide open, and stood in the doorway to begin my adventure of exploring the great mystery of Passover.
The parlor was brightly lit with sunlight streaming in through a crystal-clear window framed by white curtains. The walls and ceiling had been freshly whitewashed. Along one wall stood our wooden sofa, its color and grain like that of a violin; in the middle of the room was the same round table as always, with its surrounding chairs and benches neatly spaced.
'What are you doing here?' Mama's voice came from right above me, very stern. 'Standing with bread at the Passover door? Oh, my goodness!' and with two sharp pinching fingers she led me by my left ear to Father.
'Here,' Mama ordered Father. 'Take a good look at your son. I just caught him, with bread in his hands -- bread, mind you -- standing right there in the doorway of my parlor which has been cleaned for Passover, and where I now keep the Passover borsht.'
Father shook his head, saying, as he gave me a severe look, 'Tsk, tsk, you did a bad thing.'
As Mama turned to leave, I noticed a sly grin on Father 's face. Mama glanced back over her shoulder, and he immediately put his serious look back on. Taking me by the hand, he brought me close, lifted me onto the chair beside him, and told me not to look in the parlor again. ' It is forbidden,’ he said.
'Not even from far away?' I asked.
But Father didn't hear me. He had returned to his book, deep in thought and silent study.
A few days later, I sneaked back to the parlor and peeked through a crack near the bottom of the door. Mama had passed through that doorway many times since she hauled me away by my ear. Looking through, and twisting my head from side to side to see better, I made out a set of brand new dishes, shining pots, bottles, and a meat salting board. The crack in the door was narrow; I couldn't see beyond its edges to where I just knew would be stacks and sacks and bundles and packages of new Passover utensils, special foods, clothing, and perhaps even a gift for me. I saw again the ropes of onions strung on the wall; they added a special charm to the room.
I danced away; our home was getting ready for Passover! Passover! Passover!
More days passed.
'Perhaps I can trouble your honors to move yourselves and your books out of here to the big alcove?' Mama's politeness was really an order. She was dressed in white, had a white kerchief on her head, and held a long broom. Bending her head back, she ignored us and began to inspect the ceiling.
‘Sosil,’ she called out. ' Come here with the brush. Get a move on, Sosil, show your face.'
Sosil, our maid, came in wearing a white cloth on her head just like Mama. She had a wet rag, a long-handled brush, and a pail filled almost to the brim with whitewash. Dipping the brush in the pail, she slapped chalky liquid across the ceiling and along the walls with short strokes. I stood there, watching.
They didn't let me watch for long. First they told me that a young boy wasn't supposed to just stand around and watch a ceiling being whitewashed, even though it was for Passover. I didn't take the hint. Finally, sounding real busy, Mama said, 'Listen here, young man, how about you heading for the alcove?'
Taking me by the shoulders, Mama steered me in the direction she wanted me to go. I went, but since I wasn't at all eager to give up watching I circled back. Seeing me return, Sosil strode over, placed her hands on her hips, towering over me like the giant in a story.
'What a child,' she scolded at me, 'always getting underfoot!'
Mama looked up from what she was doing. 'Go, for goodness sake,' she said to me, 'go to your father.'
Sosil reached out, grabbed me, laughed, dabbed whitewash on the tip of my nose and pushed me toward the door, saying, 'and I’ve never seen such a stubborn child in my life.'
'This is no time to play games,' Mama said sternly, and lightly paddled my rump as I passed.
I joined Father wearing my sad face, looking like a wet kitten. He glanced up from his book, patted my shoulder to console me, lifted me to his lap, and returned to his studying.
'Excuse me,' Sosil's voice came from the doorway, ' the lady of the house told me to tell you to move to the pantry.'
Sosil came into the alcove loaded with her equipment. She was as white as a ghost from the splattering and drippings, which had clung to her from whitewashing ceilings and walls. Father and I took one look at her, and instantly retreated to the pantry, a place no bigger than a yawn.
I would like you to understand that Sosil was also a relative, and had been with us for many years. 'When I came here,' she once told me, 'you were not yet born. You grew up under my care. If it weren't for me you'd be who knows where. Whenever there was a tumult, a fracas, or any kind of a mess, you were in the middle of it and I had to go charging in to save you.'
She would always end with, 'Well now, don't you deserve a thrashing?' and give me a bear hug.
That's how Sosil used to treat me, paddling me, not hard or mean, though, and sometimes tugging at my hair, and then, just the opposite, wrapping me in an almost smothering embrace. Mama and Father never protested, and never took my part. Sosil did whatever she pleased with me, just as if I were hers, not theirs. But then, as I say, Sosil was family.
Anyhow, Father and I were now in the pantry. I wandered to a corner and sat on the floor, looking at Father as he rubbed his forehead, chewed his beard, swayed, and sighed, 'Well, that's how it is....'
It seemed that only a few minutes passed before Sosil showed up, again holding or dragging her tools. Her look told us it was time for us to move on.
'Where to this time?' asked Father, by now completely bewildered.
‘How do I know?' Sosil shrugged, dipped the brush and slapped whitewash against one of the walls, causing splatters that arced through the air almost to where Father and I were sitting.
'Into the little storeroom, both of you,' said Mama from the pantry doorway. With her long broom and a new feather duster she looked like a fully armed enemy in a surprise attack.
'The storeroom is as cold as a stone.' Father tried to beg his way out.
Appeals didn't help. We had to gather ourselves up and move to the storeroom where we both shivered from its chill.
The storeroom was also narrow and dark. Two people could hardly stand without stepping on each other's toes. Even so, it was a Paradise for me; there were shelves on all sides just begging to be climbed. But Father wouldn't let me; he said I'd fall and break my neck. I paid no attention to him. No sooner was he into his books and I was up on the first, the second, and-quick as a flash--on the top shelf. I was standing, too.
'Cock-a-doodle-doo!' I crowed loudly, wanting to show Father my great talent. I raised my head quickly as I crowed and before I knew it, I banged the top of my head against the ceiling. I hit with such force that the shock practically knocked my teeth out.
Father became alarmed, reached up, hauled me down, and looked and felt to see if I was bleeding. A moment later Sosil, followed by Mama, rushed in and both tore into us like we had done something wrong. My own yelling and squirming didn't help.
'Did you ever see such a wild boy?' Mama asked.
'That's no boy. That's a little demon,' Sosil replied. As soon as they were certain that I wasn't too badly hurt, Sosil folded her arms and informed us that in a little while we'd be asked to move to the kitchen. The whitewashing in the rest of the house had been finished and the room we were standing in was last.
Off we went again. In the kitchen we were joined by our neighbor, big-browed Moshe Ber, who sat with Father on the dairy bench. They poured their hearts out to each other.
Father complained in a voice loud enough to be heard throughout the house about all the traveling he had done just getting ready for Passover. 'For the past few days,' he shouted, winking at Moshe Ber, 'I've been sent packing from one place to another. I've become a vagabond in my own home; I am in exile, tramping from one place to the next.'
Moshe Ber grinned at my father as he replied just as loudly, 'That's nothing. I have it much worse. I've been kicked out of my house entirely.'
They both chuckled and nudged each other with their elbows. From the other room came the sound of Mama and Sosil laughing.
Our gray cat, licking its paws on a bench near the stove, was more interesting. Sosil said that a cat licking its paws meant that a guest was coming. I still cannot understand how a cat could know that we're going to have company. Anyhow, I went to the cat to tease her for a while. First, I wanted to touch her paw; nothing doing. Then I tried to get her to beg, standing her up on her hind legs; she didn't like that either.
'Stand up on your hind legs, 'I ordered her and tapped lightly on the tip of her nose. She closed her eyes, turned away, stuck out her tongue, and yawned as if to say, 'Why does this boy bother me so? What does he want of my life?' Being ignored like this annoyed me. Why does this silly cat act like a stubborn mule? I kept teasing her until suddenly she bared her sharp claws and scratched the back of my hand.
'Mama, help,' I yelled. Mama and Sosil rushed in. They made an uproar over the scratch, and I got a finger-wagging tongue-lashing from both of them.
'Next time you'll know not to tease cats,' Mama said.
Cats? All told we had one little pussycat and they warned me about ' CATS!' like we lived in a jungle.
'Go wash up,' Mama instructed Father, 'and take your son along. Today's lunch will be in the cellar.'
Sosil took the poker and started moving the pots around on the stove, at first paying no attention to my father, Moshe Ber, or me. Finally, with just one impatient glare she got her message across to Moshe Ber that on the afternoon just before Passover a man's proper place did not include the homes of neighbors who were, themselves, very busy preparing for the holiday. Moshe Ber quickly took the hint, rose, and said good-bye. As soon as he departed, Father, Mama, Sosil and I went down to the cellar for our day-before-Passover lunch.
I couldn't understand, on our way down the cellar stairs, why Father made faces, shrugged his shoulders, and grumbled, 'What a vagabond life! 'That surprised me. What sort of catastrophe was it having lunch in the cellar? How could the mouth-watering fragrance from barrels of pickles and cabbages, and the yeasty aroma from the crocks of souring dairy products, harm anyone? Also, what was so terrible about making a table out of two upside-down barrels and a breadboard, and using broken barrels and boxes for chairs?
A lunch, a snack, or any meal, for that matter, in a cellar couldn't help but be a lot of fun. It would give me a chance to ride a barrel. I did wonder, though, what would happen if the barrel rolled sideways too fast and I fell off? Well, I decided, if I fell off I would just climb back up and ride on.
My only trouble was that Sosil would be watching. I moved fast; before Sosil could interfere I was up and away, riding the nearest barrel like a real horseman heading into the sunset.
'A new game,' Sosil called out. 'The blunderer wants to break his leg.'
That was nonsense. I no more wanted to break my leg than Sosil wanted to break hers. I don't know what she wanted of me. She always picked on me and looked on the dark side. If I ran, she said I'd crack my skull; if I went near anything, she said I'd smash it; if I chewed on a button, she would have a fit and shout at whoever was nearby, 'The blunderhead is going to choke himself.'
But I had a way of getting even with Sosil; the moment I became even slightly sick she turned the world upside down fussing over me, not knowing if she was coming or going.
The lunch in the cellar went very well and was soon behind us. 'Now, take the child upstairs,' Mama said to Father after we had finished. 'We have to clean the leaven out of the cellar, and then start gathering food for the festival meal.' Before Father could ask Mama where we were supposed to go she pointed to the stairs, 'Up. Up to the attic for a couple of hours.'
Sosil added quickly, 'See to it that the little bungler doesn't slip and break his bones.' She hurried me out with a push from behind. 'Well, get a move on, bungler. Move.'
Father followed me and I heard him grumbling, 'The attic. What next? There's a vagabond Gypsy's life for you.'
What a strange one Father was. Going up to the attic displeased him. If it were up to me, I'd like every week to be the week before Passover so that I could climb the stairs all the way up to the attic. Even the climb up was fun. At any other time I could plead for hours and they wouldn't let me go up to the attic or play on its staircase. Now I scrambled up the stairs like an imp, actually ordered to go. Father came after me, repeating, 'Take it easy. Take it slowly,' but who took it slowly? I felt as if I had wings and was flying up.
You ought to see our attic. The place was jammed with treasures: smashed and dusty lamps, cracked and broken pots, and torn and rotting clothes so old you couldn't tell if they were men's or women's. Along one side were closed trunks and wooden boxes which must have been loaded with many mysteries. I found an old strip of fur: as soon as I touched it, it crumbled to powder.
There were pages from old sacred books, a twisted exhaust pipe from a brass samovar, a sack full of feathers, a rusty strainer, and an old palm-branch leaning against a post. I sat under the palm-branch, rustled its dried leaves and imagined I was in a jungle tracking and trapping fierce beasts.
There was also, of course, the shingled roof. Close to the walls where the roof's slant brought it down within my reach, I touched the shingles with my hands. Being able to touch a roof with your own hands at the same time your feet are solidly standing on a floor is really having a long reach. Right?
Father sat down on a crossbeam, picked up a few loose pages from a book that had fallen apart, arranged them in some sort of order, and began to read. I moved to the little attic window and looked out far and wide at our village, Kasrilevke. I saw all the houses and their roofs: black, gray, red, and green. The people walking in the streets seemed tiny and far away. Certainly, ours was the finest village in the world.
Nearby, along our street and in our own courtyard, I saw neighbors washing and scrubbing, scraping and polishing, making their tables and benches kosher for Passover. They carried huge pots of boiling water, heated irons, and red-hot bricks, all of which gave off a white vapor that tumbled and curled and faded away like smoke.
The smell of spring was in the air, streams twisted along in the gutters, goats bleated, and a man wearing cord-wrapped boots plodded through the ankle-deep springtime mud leading a white horse that pulled a two-wheeled wagon. It was Azriel the Wagoner, an old man and an old horse dragging an old wagon. Azriel the Wagoner was making a delivery on our street.
'Hello, up there,' we heard Sosil call from the foot of the stairs. 'Sorry to trouble you but you'll have to come down. We have a job for the both of you. You're being called on by the lady of the house to air the books.'
Father stood up. I dashed from the window to the attic door, and down the rickety stairs we went, bursting into the kitchen.
Warnings came at us from all sides as soon as we appeared. 'Get away from the Passover cupboard with your bread-stained clothes. Easy there! You're stepping on a Passover sack.'
'Don't even look in that direction, either of you.'
'Be careful! Be careful! You're endangering the Passover borsht!'
Father and I scurried from one spot to another and we were still underfoot as far as Mama and Sosil were concerned. They steered me from here to there and back, loaded me with books, and urged Father on until we were both outside with all the books we possessed.
Outside, we dusted the old books gently with a cloth, stopping now and then to look inside the covers.
Standing there together, Father bent over so that I could see into the books. He pointed to letters and showed me how they formed into words; he explained the pictures to me. We had a good time.
Finally, the books were all aired and dusted and we handed each one carefully to Mama and Sosil, who were waiting in the doorway to take them. They returned the books to their newly scrubbed and freshly lined places on the bookshelf. Father and I then sat on the bench outside, waiting for the next command, which wasn't long in coming. It was now getting close to evening.
Mama was back in the open doorway. 'The house is ready for inspection by the Lord and Master,’ she said, her arms folded, a stern look on her face, but her eyes twinkling. She held out two pairs of slippers to Father.
'First, both of you remove your shoes and put on these slippers,' she said. 'I've scrubbed all traces of leaven from them and will allow you to wear them inside for the inspection.'
Father put on his serious-business face. Mama held out a candle, a match, a large wooden spoon, and a feather duster. Father and I sat on the bench and changed to the slippers. Standing, Father took the candle and the match and pointed to me to take the wooden spoon and the feather duster. He lit the candle with the match, waved to me to follow, then raised the candle high while saying a blessing and, with me holding the spoon and duster, we marched inside with great dignity. We were going to make sure that our home was clean enough for Passover.
I followed Father as he strode about. He looked very important, leaning over to inspect one corner after another, and then peering closely along shelves and into cupboards.
Mama and Sosil followed close behind us, observing Father's every move. Suddenly Father leaned over, poked his finger at something, and rose to his full height, frowning silently at Mama. He held out his hand to me for the spoon, took it, and passed his hand over the ladle. Mama looked at the bottom of the ladle and gasped; Sosil looked first at the ceiling and then lowered her eyes to stare at the floor.
Father motioned me closer so that I could see what he had discovered. At the bottom of the spoon was the tiniest, tiny crumb of bread. I learned soon afterwards that this was Father's and Mama's serious game: he would secretly hide tiny bits of leaven deep in the corner of a window sill and in other crannies for this final pre-Passover search.
Mama and Sosil always knew, in advance, where Father would hide the leaven, and would leave it untouched just for this game. I was now one of the players in this serious game, making it a family game. Father told me that it would be my job to join him each year to inspect the house before Passover to make certain no leaven remained.
Father wrapped the leaven in a bit of paper to be removed from our home. His task done, he blew out the candle flame, and returned it along with the wooden spoon and the feather duster to Sosil. The leaven would be burned outside the following morning along with the last bits of leaven from our neighbors. Sosil went at where the bread crumb had been, wiping the place hard with a damp cloth.
Our home was now ready for Passover, spotless and kosher. The next afternoon the table was set and the wine cups smiled at me from afar. The aroma of Passover-cooked food was all through the house. It was time to bathe, dress, and prepare ourselves.
Later that same evening, Father sat in his place at the table like a king, dressed in a white linen robe, his satin hat on the top of his head and a pillow in his chair. Mama, the queen, sat beside him, wearing her splendid wedding dress, a silk kerchief, and a necklace of pearls that seemed to glow in the candles' lights; Mama was so charming. I, the prince, sat opposite them, wearing my new clothes. Alongside me sat Sosil, wearing a new dress and a starched apron that rustled when she moved.
'This bread of affliction,' sang the king in his fine voice as the queen, her face shining like a star, helped him lift the plate with the matzoths. Sosil looked on, smiling, her hands in her lap.
Everyone was in high spirits; everyone was in a holiday mood.
'This year we are slaves, but next year we shall be free men,' the king sang proudly, making himself comfortable on the pillow.
The room became silent. Father, Mama and Sosil turned their eyes to me. It was time for the prince to speak. I rose to my feet and began, 'Wherefore is this night different from all other nights...?'
Later, after our meal, Father asked me to open the door of our home wide so that the Prophet Elijah might enter. I ran to do so and rushed back to watch Elijah's wine goblet, that had been filled to the brim. I saw no change, but Mama smiled at me, and I knew we had been graced by his visit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Excerpts: Weekly SPARK, Suicide Prevention, Feb 4, 2009,
Feb. 5th, 2009 | 01:33 pm
Excerpts from The Weekly SPARK, Feb 4, 2009, an E-Newsletter of the
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC)
To see the full contents of this SPARK issue visit:
http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
I am a layperson/private citizen on general distribution of the 'Weekly SPARK' an e-newsletter distributed by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). Each SPARK issue includes timely 'suicide prevention' and related information and deserves awareness by the general public. Please consider passing the information and links to sites and boards where content may be of interest or useful. MM
~~~~~
Effectiveness of brief intervention and contact for suicide attempters: a randomized controlled trial in five countries.
Fleischman, A., Bertolote, J., Wasserman, D., DeLeo, D., Bolhari, J., Botega, N., et al. (2008). Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(9), 703-709.
This World Health Organization study was conducted in five countries, all outside the United States. It was remarkable in that it showed that a brief intervention–given as close as possible to the time of the emergency department visit for a suicide attempt followed by contacts by phone or face-to-face visit over eighteen months–substantially decreased the rate of suicide during the follow-up period as compared to patients receiving treatment as usual. However, we must recognize the significant difficulties involved in conducting randomized controlled trials in low- and middle-income countries, especially when follow-up is required over many months. Still, this study appears to be of great importance when considering the immense burden of the estimated one million suicide deaths that occur worldwide each year. Its significance to suicide prevention in the U.S. is much less certain, however. An important aspect of this study’s design (which we did not point out in our previous report) was that in most cases, the “treatment as usual” provided to those who were randomized to the control group included no psychosocial assessment, treatment or follow-up care whatsoever. In other words, care in the emergency department was limited to treatment of the physical injuries, followed by discharge. This treatment is very different from what most patients would experience in emergency departments in the U.S. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the protection afforded these patients through a very brief psychoeducational intervention and regular contact with a health care professional over the months following the attempt is noteworthy. Brief emergency department-based interventions and post-suicide attempt follow-up warrant rigorous study in the United States.
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/8
~~~~~
Trends in U.S. emergency department visits for suicide attempts, 1992-2001.
Larkin, G., Smith, R., Beautrais, A. (2008). Crisis, 9(2), 73-80.
This study used a national survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that sampled patient visits to emergency departments (EDs) across the United States, representing nearly one billion ED visits over the decade. Over 50 million visits were for mental health problems and approximately four million visits were for the treatment of a suicide attempt. According to the report, the rate of ED visits for a suicide attempt virtually doubled across the decade from .8 to 1.5 per 1000 persons; during the same time period the rate of suicide in the U.S. declined 10 percent. The increases were concentrated in two age groups: those under 15 years of age, and those ages 50-69. Suicide attempt-related visits were most common (had the highest rate) among non-Hispanic blacks. However, the sharp increases observed across the decade were only significant for non-Hispanic whites. Suicide attempt-related visits increased significantly in metropolitan areas, but remained essentially unchanged in non-metropolitan areas. The report provides additional analysis of mental health-related visits, regional and gender variation, and patient disposition (e.g., inpatient admission vs. discharge). The authors of the study concluded that “EDs are increasingly important sites at which to identify, assess, treat, manage, and support people who make suicide attempts.” By improving care to this patient group, downstream risks for future attempts, fatal or nonfatal, may be reduced along with the ED burden and costs of future attempts. “Clinical and policy efforts should be directed toward developing best practice models of medical care and psychosocial assessment and treatment in emergency department settings,” added the authors.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1866
~~~~~
Army sees sharp rise in suicide rate, The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 30, 2009
The suicide rate among Army soldiers has reached its highest level in 30 years, according to a report released by the U.S. Army last Thursday. Between 2007 and 2008, the suicide rate per 100,000 increased from 16.8 to 20.2. The 2008 rate reflects the first time the Army suicide rate has exceeded the national suicide rate for the corresponding demographic population. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps has reported a suicide rate of 19.0 per 100,000, which is the highest rate since 2005.
http://www.latimes.com/features/hea
~~~~~
New York: Looking in on the Samaritans at a “dark time” in the land, The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2009 Calls to the 24-hour suicide hotline run by the Samaritans of New York have increased by nearly thirty percent in the last two years. Longtime staffer Alan Ross believes that economic stress has played a role in this sharp increase, but other factors–like terrorism and ongoing warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan–have contributed to people’s fears about the future and adversely affected their emotional state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/nyreg
~~~~~
Virginia: Unraveling the maze, The Breeze (James Madison University), Jan. 26, 2009
For the first time, James Madison University (JMU) is conducting a survey that will examine mental health issues among JMU students. The University of Michigan developed the survey (known as the Healthy Minds Study) and will process and release the collected data. The JMU survey is the result of a collaboration between the Central Shenandoah Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative and the JMU Health Center. Administrators plan to use the data to help bring in new services and tailor existing services to better meet students’ mental health needs.
http://breezejmu.org/2009/01/26/unravel
Read more about the Healthy Minds Study, including participating schools and frequently asked questions
http://www.healthymindsstudy.net/studyd
~~~~~
The SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-03) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the information on this web site is intended or should be inferred.
~~~
Each excerpt in this posting is verbatim from the SPARK source. MM
~~~~~~~~~~
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC)
To see the full contents of this SPARK issue visit:
http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
I am a layperson/private citizen on general distribution of the 'Weekly SPARK' an e-newsletter distributed by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). Each SPARK issue includes timely 'suicide prevention' and related information and deserves awareness by the general public. Please consider passing the information and links to sites and boards where content may be of interest or useful. MM
~~~~~
Effectiveness of brief intervention and contact for suicide attempters: a randomized controlled trial in five countries.
Fleischman, A., Bertolote, J., Wasserman, D., DeLeo, D., Bolhari, J., Botega, N., et al. (2008). Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(9), 703-709.
This World Health Organization study was conducted in five countries, all outside the United States. It was remarkable in that it showed that a brief intervention–given as close as possible to the time of the emergency department visit for a suicide attempt followed by contacts by phone or face-to-face visit over eighteen months–substantially decreased the rate of suicide during the follow-up period as compared to patients receiving treatment as usual. However, we must recognize the significant difficulties involved in conducting randomized controlled trials in low- and middle-income countries, especially when follow-up is required over many months. Still, this study appears to be of great importance when considering the immense burden of the estimated one million suicide deaths that occur worldwide each year. Its significance to suicide prevention in the U.S. is much less certain, however. An important aspect of this study’s design (which we did not point out in our previous report) was that in most cases, the “treatment as usual” provided to those who were randomized to the control group included no psychosocial assessment, treatment or follow-up care whatsoever. In other words, care in the emergency department was limited to treatment of the physical injuries, followed by discharge. This treatment is very different from what most patients would experience in emergency departments in the U.S. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the protection afforded these patients through a very brief psychoeducational intervention and regular contact with a health care professional over the months following the attempt is noteworthy. Brief emergency department-based interventions and post-suicide attempt follow-up warrant rigorous study in the United States.
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/8
~~~~~
Trends in U.S. emergency department visits for suicide attempts, 1992-2001.
Larkin, G., Smith, R., Beautrais, A. (2008). Crisis, 9(2), 73-80.
This study used a national survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that sampled patient visits to emergency departments (EDs) across the United States, representing nearly one billion ED visits over the decade. Over 50 million visits were for mental health problems and approximately four million visits were for the treatment of a suicide attempt. According to the report, the rate of ED visits for a suicide attempt virtually doubled across the decade from .8 to 1.5 per 1000 persons; during the same time period the rate of suicide in the U.S. declined 10 percent. The increases were concentrated in two age groups: those under 15 years of age, and those ages 50-69. Suicide attempt-related visits were most common (had the highest rate) among non-Hispanic blacks. However, the sharp increases observed across the decade were only significant for non-Hispanic whites. Suicide attempt-related visits increased significantly in metropolitan areas, but remained essentially unchanged in non-metropolitan areas. The report provides additional analysis of mental health-related visits, regional and gender variation, and patient disposition (e.g., inpatient admission vs. discharge). The authors of the study concluded that “EDs are increasingly important sites at which to identify, assess, treat, manage, and support people who make suicide attempts.” By improving care to this patient group, downstream risks for future attempts, fatal or nonfatal, may be reduced along with the ED burden and costs of future attempts. “Clinical and policy efforts should be directed toward developing best practice models of medical care and psychosocial assessment and treatment in emergency department settings,” added the authors.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1866
~~~~~
Army sees sharp rise in suicide rate, The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 30, 2009
The suicide rate among Army soldiers has reached its highest level in 30 years, according to a report released by the U.S. Army last Thursday. Between 2007 and 2008, the suicide rate per 100,000 increased from 16.8 to 20.2. The 2008 rate reflects the first time the Army suicide rate has exceeded the national suicide rate for the corresponding demographic population. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps has reported a suicide rate of 19.0 per 100,000, which is the highest rate since 2005.
http://www.latimes.com/features/hea
~~~~~
New York: Looking in on the Samaritans at a “dark time” in the land, The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2009 Calls to the 24-hour suicide hotline run by the Samaritans of New York have increased by nearly thirty percent in the last two years. Longtime staffer Alan Ross believes that economic stress has played a role in this sharp increase, but other factors–like terrorism and ongoing warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan–have contributed to people’s fears about the future and adversely affected their emotional state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/nyreg
~~~~~
Virginia: Unraveling the maze, The Breeze (James Madison University), Jan. 26, 2009
For the first time, James Madison University (JMU) is conducting a survey that will examine mental health issues among JMU students. The University of Michigan developed the survey (known as the Healthy Minds Study) and will process and release the collected data. The JMU survey is the result of a collaboration between the Central Shenandoah Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative and the JMU Health Center. Administrators plan to use the data to help bring in new services and tailor existing services to better meet students’ mental health needs.
http://breezejmu.org/2009/01/26/unravel
Read more about the Healthy Minds Study, including participating schools and frequently asked questions
http://www.healthymindsstudy.net/studyd
~~~~~
The SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-03) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the information on this web site is intended or should be inferred.
~~~
Each excerpt in this posting is verbatim from the SPARK source. MM
~~~~~~~~~~
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Newsletter, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 1.21.09
Jan. 23rd, 2009 | 01:24 pm
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC-SPARK) Newsletter 1.21.09
I am a layperson/private citizen on e-distribution of the 'Weekly SPARK' a widely distributed e-publication of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). Each issue of the Weekly SPARK includes 'suicide prevention' and related information and links to other sites and deserves public attention. Please consider passing along the following excerpts from the Jan 21, 2009 issue to where content may be useful. To see the full contents of this issue and links visit
http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
(Click on the SPARK item headline to read more information)
~~~
RESEARCH SUMMARIES:
Preventing Youth Suicide in Rural America Webinar
SPRC, in partnership with the State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association (STIPDA) recently offered a webinar highlighting recommendations for youth suicide prevention through the lens of America’s rural communities. Featured presenters included: Anara Guard, Deputy Director, Suicide Prevention Resource Center; Dennis Mohatt, Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program; and Mark LoMurray, Project Director, North Dakota Adolescent Suicide Prevention Project.
Click to learn how to listen to the audio and view the presentation
~~~
Coping with youth suicide and overdose: One community’s efforts to investigate, intervene, and prevent suicide contagion.
[Crisis] From 2000 to 2005, Somerville, Massachusetts was the site of a cluster of suicides and overdoses that eventually took the lives of 21 youths. Although the manner of the young people’s deaths varied, Somerville youths did not distinguish between how their friends died, referring to them collectively as friends they had lost. The activation of this community in response to serial tragedies provides an important example for other communities that may experience suicide contagion among youth.
[Read more]
~~~
Pain and suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts in the Unites States.
[General Hospital Psychiatry] This is the first known study to look at the relationship between various types of pain and suicidal ideation and attempts in a representative sample of U.S. adults. The study uncovered additional evidence linking frequent or severe headaches with suicide risk. Similar links were found for non-arthritic chronic pain and for the presence of chronic pain of multiple types. These relationships held even after correcting for the presence of psychiatric disorders and other factors. “The results of this study highlight the importance of attending to pain as a potentially potent and independent risk factor for suicide,” according to the study authors. The implications for primary care settings and practices specializing in pain management are especially important.
[Read more]
~~~
U.S. to pay family of Marine who committed suicide $350,000
The Republican Newsroom
A suit brought against the U.S. government by the family of a former Marine who killed himself after returning from Iraq has resulted in “a number of important changes” in the Veterans Affairs medical system, and the $350,000 settlement may clear the way for other veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder to sue the government. Jeffrey M. Lucey took his life in June 2004 after a four-day stay in a Veterans Affairs hospital in May. According to an assistant U.S. attorney involved in the case, the government has responded to the tragedy by hiring suicide prevention coordinators and more counselors.
~~~
Combat vets’ needs seen as escalating
San Antonio Express-News
“Building Community Connections” was the theme of this year’s Annual Suicide Prevention Conference, which was sponsored by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs and held in San Antonio last week. Participants discussed public awareness campaigns, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the barriers that keep troop members with mental health concerns from getting help. Department of Veterans Affairs chief of mental health Dr. Ira Katz encouraged collaboration among civilian, military, and Veterans Affairs mental health professionals to meet the increasing need for mental health services among veterans.
Spark Extra!
Read about the latest suicide rates among U.S. Marines, which were released during this year’s Suicide Prevention Conference
~~~
Soldier suicides in Afghanistan rose sharply last year
The Chicago Tribune
The U.S. Army has not yet completed its final analysis of 2008 suicide statistics among active duty soldiers, but preliminary statistics show that the number of suicides in Afghanistan increased. The spike in suicides occurred during the summer months along with an increase in combat deaths. The number of soldiers in Afghanistan suffering from depression and anxiety has been increasing in recent years, but the weather conditions and terrain in the area make it difficult to get health care providers to the troops.
~~~
State and Tribal
Montana:
Preventing the final decision
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle recently ran a two-part article on suicide in Montana. Part I contains statistical information about suicide in Montana and lists local suicide and mental health resources. Part II describes suicide prevention efforts in various parts of the state.
~~~
The SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-03) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the content of this email is intended or should be inferred. The above disclaimer applies to the writer of this posting.
I am a layperson/private citizen on e-distribution of the 'Weekly SPARK' a widely distributed e-publication of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). Each issue of the Weekly SPARK includes 'suicide prevention' and related information and links to other sites and deserves public attention. Please consider passing along the following excerpts from the Jan 21, 2009 issue to where content may be useful. To see the full contents of this issue and links visit
http://www.sprc.org/news/index.asp
(Click on the SPARK item headline to read more information)
~~~
RESEARCH SUMMARIES:
Preventing Youth Suicide in Rural America Webinar
SPRC, in partnership with the State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association (STIPDA) recently offered a webinar highlighting recommendations for youth suicide prevention through the lens of America’s rural communities. Featured presenters included: Anara Guard, Deputy Director, Suicide Prevention Resource Center; Dennis Mohatt, Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program; and Mark LoMurray, Project Director, North Dakota Adolescent Suicide Prevention Project.
Click to learn how to listen to the audio and view the presentation
~~~
Coping with youth suicide and overdose: One community’s efforts to investigate, intervene, and prevent suicide contagion.
[Crisis] From 2000 to 2005, Somerville, Massachusetts was the site of a cluster of suicides and overdoses that eventually took the lives of 21 youths. Although the manner of the young people’s deaths varied, Somerville youths did not distinguish between how their friends died, referring to them collectively as friends they had lost. The activation of this community in response to serial tragedies provides an important example for other communities that may experience suicide contagion among youth.
[Read more]
~~~
Pain and suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts in the Unites States.
[General Hospital Psychiatry] This is the first known study to look at the relationship between various types of pain and suicidal ideation and attempts in a representative sample of U.S. adults. The study uncovered additional evidence linking frequent or severe headaches with suicide risk. Similar links were found for non-arthritic chronic pain and for the presence of chronic pain of multiple types. These relationships held even after correcting for the presence of psychiatric disorders and other factors. “The results of this study highlight the importance of attending to pain as a potentially potent and independent risk factor for suicide,” according to the study authors. The implications for primary care settings and practices specializing in pain management are especially important.
[Read more]
~~~
U.S. to pay family of Marine who committed suicide $350,000
The Republican Newsroom
A suit brought against the U.S. government by the family of a former Marine who killed himself after returning from Iraq has resulted in “a number of important changes” in the Veterans Affairs medical system, and the $350,000 settlement may clear the way for other veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder to sue the government. Jeffrey M. Lucey took his life in June 2004 after a four-day stay in a Veterans Affairs hospital in May. According to an assistant U.S. attorney involved in the case, the government has responded to the tragedy by hiring suicide prevention coordinators and more counselors.
~~~
Combat vets’ needs seen as escalating
San Antonio Express-News
“Building Community Connections” was the theme of this year’s Annual Suicide Prevention Conference, which was sponsored by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs and held in San Antonio last week. Participants discussed public awareness campaigns, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the barriers that keep troop members with mental health concerns from getting help. Department of Veterans Affairs chief of mental health Dr. Ira Katz encouraged collaboration among civilian, military, and Veterans Affairs mental health professionals to meet the increasing need for mental health services among veterans.
Spark Extra!
Read about the latest suicide rates among U.S. Marines, which were released during this year’s Suicide Prevention Conference
~~~
Soldier suicides in Afghanistan rose sharply last year
The Chicago Tribune
The U.S. Army has not yet completed its final analysis of 2008 suicide statistics among active duty soldiers, but preliminary statistics show that the number of suicides in Afghanistan increased. The spike in suicides occurred during the summer months along with an increase in combat deaths. The number of soldiers in Afghanistan suffering from depression and anxiety has been increasing in recent years, but the weather conditions and terrain in the area make it difficult to get health care providers to the troops.
~~~
State and Tribal
Montana:
Preventing the final decision
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle recently ran a two-part article on suicide in Montana. Part I contains statistical information about suicide in Montana and lists local suicide and mental health resources. Part II describes suicide prevention efforts in various parts of the state.
~~~
The SPRC is supported by a grant (1 U79 SM57392-03) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official endorsement by SAMHSA or DHHS for the content of this email is intended or should be inferred. The above disclaimer applies to the writer of this posting.
Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Share
MEMOIR: MILITARY-CIVILIAN TEAMWORK IN SUICIDE PREVENTION, The 'Viet Nam' War and Afterwards
Sep. 11th, 2008 | 11:57 am
by Meyer Moldeven
NOTE 7.30.09 To LJ and readers: I have been notified by 'Live Journal' that cumulative length of my entries to this blog has reached allowable limits. The subject: 'Suicide Prevention' called for it; my sincere gratitude to you 'Live Journal' for the space that you did permit me to use. I have set up a companion to this blog on BLOGGER, title: 'Suicide Prevention is Everybody's Business' and its at
http://suicidepreventioniseverybodysbus
Please check it out. Thank you all for 'being.'
Mike
----------
Added to this blog: June 10, 2009. Submitted June 1, 2009 to the U. S. 'Open Government Dialogue' at:
http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/d
Subject: Suicide Prevention in All Federal Departments
Department of Defense components have created 'suicide prevention' programs and trained their military and civilian personnel to be alert and responsive to the needs of their organizations and circumstances. The DoD programs lend themselves to being adapted throughout all Federal Departments and Agencies. When the Federal Government (as an employer) adopts 'suicide prevention' as an essential element in the health and well-being of its employees then similar concepts and practices will have a better chance in the private sector.
I therefore suggest a top down directive to all federal departments that will encourage suicide prevention training for federal employees that are in supervisory positions, hear and investigate employee complaints, interact with survivors of suicide (military as well as civilian), and others that have duties in law enforcement, security, mental health, supervising conduct of prisoners, and comparable positions.
Why Is This Idea Important?
'The nation is experiencing extraordinary stresses that adversely influence people in all walks of life. The number of calls to suicide prevention 'hotlines' has increased. Employers have a role in dealing with suicidal conduct, ideation, and attempts. Police officers and hospital staff often see successful suicides. Understanding the phenomenon and how to interact with a suicidal person, including getting him or her to professional help ASAP is vital. Suicide prevention is everybody's business.
Make it so. 'See my blog:
Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/8
DISCLAIMER: The author of this blog was a volunteer 'hotline' worker in a county suicide prevention service during the Viet Nam War. His paraprofessional certification has lapsed and he is no longer qualified or authorized to offer 'suicide prevention' advice. If you are depressed, self-destructive and/or thinking of suicide get professional help without delay. If you are in an emotional crisis and don't know to whom or where you can turn for help phone/contact your physician, therapist, community 'suicide prevention' service or hotline, or phone the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-talk. Content of this blog is for your information only (FYI).
~~~~~~
Preface: Based on notes I made in the late 1970s at a suicide prevention conference I attended in San Francisco: Dr. Edwin Shneidman, a pioneer and leader in 'suicide prevention' and one of the founders of the American Association of Suicidology was the Speaker. Reconstructing from my notes: ' … people are acutely bent on self-destruction for relatively brief periods in their lives. The most accurate temporal unit would be hours, perhaps days. A person is rarely highly lethal for a long period of time. Either there are some changes or he/she is dead. So the moral question has to be asked. Why in the total span of life would you resonate to a tiny fraction of an individual's life span? When a man/woman says (ambivalently) 'I want to kill myself.' for a few days of his/her life, why disregard the rest of his/her existence? If he/she can be given some sanctuary or surcease, he/she would not be suicidal after that period.'
~~~
Introduction: Mental health experts have come to accept paraprofessional-level suicide intervention and prevention workers as among those in the forefront of primary resources. The view is that their intervention might reduce the lethality of a person contemplating suicide, and even influence someone who has actually initiated an act of suicide.
Dr. Calvin Frederick, a past President of the American Association of Suicidology wrote (quoting):
Dealing with suicidal behavior, that is, suicide prevention) differs from more classical diagnostic and treatment procedures in the following respects:
1. suicidal behavior covers a broad range of disturbances and personalities and is, therefore, not a unitary concept;
2. it possesses a unique life or death quality;
3. intervention does not utilize traditional therapy methods;
4. the problem is multidimensional and multidisciplinary, often involving social and cultural attitudes, the law, medical intervention, and innovative psychological approaches;
5. the use of indigenous volunteers as stable and sensitive crisis workers is greater than that found in most aspects of therapeutic endeavor.
~~~
Context: There is a general observation among experts in suicide and suicide prevention that official statistics on the number of suicides and suicide attempts in any identified population are like the tips of icebergs. They do not reveal to a casual reader the reality of how many individuals in that population killed themselves intentionally and separately, how many tried to kill themselves, failed, and might try again. Authoritative estimates occasionally appear in both professional and popular media that there are about eight suicides in fact for each certified as a suicide for the official record, and about fifteen unsuccessful attempts at suicide for each classified as such, again for the official count.
At this writing, according to figures compiled by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), suicide rates are rising for teenagers while declining or holding steady in other age groups. Between 1980 and 1993, the suicide rate rose 120 percent for 10 to 14-year olds, and almost 30 percent for 15 to 19-year olds. In part, this rise can be attributed to the increasing availability of firearms, but, in addition, (according to the American Association of Suicidology) 'there are more depressed kids.' And while the actual number of suicides remains quite small - in 1993 there were 315 students in the age group 10 to 14-year old and 1,884 students in the age group 15 to 19-year old who committed suicide. A 1993 study of 16,000 high school students conducted by the CDC found that an astonishing 1 in 12 said that he or she had attempted suicide the previous year.
Camouflage is not unusual: suicide preparations may be arranged so that the act will appear as an accident. An ailing individual might suddenly stop taking life-saving medication; or family members, friends, or 'significant others' might goad or exert harsh psychological pressures on an emotionally distraught person so that suicide becomes the only escape. Ironically, 'suicide statistics' do not examine the impact of a suicide on the victim's family and friends, nor do they note the traumatic and often permanent effects of the failed attempt on the victim. Further, they ignore the financial burden of subsequent home or institutional and health care for victim and family as well as paying for precautions against further attempts.
~~~
Relevant background of the writer:
Before I retired from the federal civil service in 1974 I was the civilian deputy to the Inspector General (IG) at McClellan Air Force Base, a large military installation near Sacramento, California. I was and am a civilian and a non-professional/lay person in all mental health disciplines. I attribute my involvement in 'suicide prevention' to circumstances of the 'Viet Nam' years. Accordingly, this memoir is presented 'FYI (For your information only.)
During 'Viet Nam', many military medical and mental health professionals, support staff, and others in healthcare disciplines were on duty at medical and mental health facilities in Southeast Asia, at stations along routes for military personnel returning to the U S, and at medical and other facilities in the U. S. where Armed Forces wounded received care.A general shortage of mental health specialists and staff existed at military installations in both the field overseas and throughout the continental U. S. According to reports in the media, the same situation prevails where comparable requirements are urgent in current Middle East conflicts where the U. S. Armed Forces are active. During 'Viet Nam', existing staff, including untrained civilian employees, were often assigned 'additional duties' to fill gaps.
In 1968, the McClellan Air Force Base senior Commander directed me to represent him on the Sacramento County mental health council. At the time, community leaders were considering creating a Suicide Prevention Service (SPS) to meet urgent needs within the area. The SPS was approved, and I was invited to train for and join the SPS volunteer staff. As the SPS functions and workload became clear, I took paraprofessional training to certification and when the Service became operational took my turn on the 'hotline,' especially calls related to needs of the Armed Forces military and their families. I extended my duties to include SPS liaison with several military installations in the area.
At that time, central California and Nevada had military facilities where military personnel of all Services were stationed for training, support, and operations, or who were in transit to or from Southeast Asia. In effect, the Sacramento-San Francisco corridor in the late 1960s-early 1970s was filled with military personnel on their way to and from Viet Nam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. From the outset, as word spread about Sacramento County's SPS hotline, increasing numbers of calls came in from potential and selected draftees, active duty, and retired members of the Armed Forces and their families.
USAF Inspector General Complaints Program
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/airf
~
One of my McClellan AFB Inspector General responsibilities was to organize and operate McClellan AFB's support to the Air Force Inspector General Complaints System. A basic principle of the IG System holds that, as a last resort within their organizations, active and retired military personnel and members of their families, and civilian employees have the right to address a grievance or an appeal to the installation's Inspector General.
The installation Inspector General represents the installation's senior Commander in these matters. An appeal to the IG may be for information and explanations concerning status and duties, to describe perceived unreasonable conditions under which the appellant works, to report on inadequate support to themselves or their dependents or, for other reasons to seek relief from what the grievant considers an intolerable and unjustifiable situation.
The IG, or deputy IG, acting for the senior Commander hears complaints and appeals and conducts such inquiries and investigations that may be required to resolve the matters. In the context of this memoir, when hearing (or reading) a complaint, there were occasions when a complainant hinted at suicide as the only remaining option should he or she not be given what they considered a reasonable resolution of the problem they presented.
Shortly after the SP service became operational a significant number of phone calls came in from active duty military, military veterans and retired military of all Services, and from members of their families. Many, if not most, such calls (to the SPS) required information or actions from a military or other government entity.
The SPS policy was to not disclose a caller's identity: Protecting a caller's identity is (or was at the time) generally practiced by most crisis intervention centers unless the situation was an imminent life-death crisis.
Organized, volunteer-staffed, telephone suicide prevention 'hotline' services were beginning to appear in the larger cities throughout the U.S. in the late '60s; less than a hundred were in operation across the U.S. at the time. In order that I might better understand the 'suicide' phenomenon and to accomplish my duties in support of the USAF IG Complaints System, I became a regular volunteer at the SPS, attended their ongoing paraprofessional upgrade training, and worked a shift on the hotline. I served with the SPS Speakers Bureau, Executive Board and other committees and gave talks about the community program at staff, non-commissioned officers', military dependents', and civilian community meetings.
I compiled an information kit on suicide myths, and the signs that would generally indicate that a friend or family member might be thinking of suicide. I sent copies of whatever literature I acquired from the SPS and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to my counterparts at other military bases. The USAF Inspector General printed an article about the information kits in the USAF TIG BRIEF (The Inspector General Brief) an IG administrative newsletter distributed to USAF facilities worldwide and to the Hqs of the other Services. The TIG Brief newsletter was also distributed in Viet Nam. The item resulted in more than 150 requests from Southeast Asia for the information packet, which we forwarded.
During talks I gave to military and general audiences I was occasionally asked for examples of what 'hotline' exchanges with military callers were like. Two of the 3 summaries that follow were related to the Viet Nam conflict. The third is a problem all too common, regardless of the times; it happened and continues to happen as often in the civilian world as it does in the military. I've screened my recollections so as to honor my commitments to confidentiality. The narration reflects a tiny sample of the effects of stress that can surface in military life and is not intended to represent major emotional, behavioral, or physical indicators toward suicide ideation. My regular work shift at the SPS brought me as much of a military-civilian mix of callers as the other hotline workers, so I've seen both sides.
The contacts were all by telephone, and in two of the three cases led to a number of quick follow-on calls to several parties on and off the base. Each caller had the potential for violence, either to self or another. If intervention, at a high point in the interaction failed, the situation might well have deteriorated, possibly with tragic results.
Draftee
While on the job in the McClellan IG office, a phone call came in from the SPS Director who told me he needed my help right then. A young Army draftee was on the SPS hotline and he was threatening to commit suicide. He was supposed to be on his way to Viet Nam but he had gone AWOL instead. He was far from home and felt lost and confused. He said he had one question before deciding whether to kill himself: 'What'll they do to me if I turn myself in?' He wouldn't identify himself or say where he was.
The SPS Director said that he didn't have the answer. He told the soldier he had a contact at a nearby military base that could check it out. Holding him on one line he called me on another and gave me the facts. I immediately called the Staff Judge Advocate - who was part of my on-base network - and had him phone the SPS Director immediately to review the ramifications of military justice as it might apply. The SPS Director passed the information to the soldier and then talked to him for about an hour. The guidance provided by the Staff Judge Advocate gave the soldier options that might reduce potential charges he faced, not ruling out desertion. We never found out what the soldier decided; he never called back.
This call, and how it was handled, demonstrated teamwork between a community suicide prevention resource and military and civil service administrators on a military base. Comparable groundbreaking was going on in other military-civilian communities and contexts.
~~
The following letter to the Editor, 'Suicide Before Deployment' was published in the NYTimes June 9, 2009
To the Editor:
While there is no doubt a connection between combat stress and suicide (“Intolerable Rise in Soldier Suicides,” editorial, June 7), attention must also be given to soldiers who take their lives before deployment.
The armed forces, pressed to meet recruiting goals, too often ignore signs of mental illness and willingly accept into their ranks recruits too mentally fragile to survive in the military, let alone serve. Although the presence of a mental illness should not be a bar to serving one’s country, the military must provide better screening of new recruits.
No doubt many recruits are separated from service before deployment because of psychiatric problems that were ignored or minimized at the time of induction. And many separate themselves, through suicide.
(The writer is a professional in mental health.)
~
Family Problem
The Base Chaplain called me at home late one Sunday night and said he'd had a phone call from a hotline worker at the community SPS. The SPS worker had asked for his help in a call that had come in from an airman's wife. She had phoned the SPS from her home off base and threatened to kill her husband and then commit suicide.
The caller to the SPS had impulsively terminated the call to the SPS after a few minutes, but in her responses to questions at the outset of the interview, had given her phone number to the crisis worker. After she hung up, the crisis worker judged the woman was more than moderately lethal, and also that she might listen to a military Chaplain. That brought on the call to the Base Chaplain.
After getting the specifics from the crisis worker, the Chaplain phoned the woman and talked to her for about 10 minutes before she hung up on him too. His conclusion, also, was that she was highly lethal for both homicide and suicide. He phoned the Base Security Police and then the Director of Personnel. The Chaplain was leaving that day for Viet Nam; the Director of Personnel suggested he call me.
The Chaplain asked me to follow up. I called the woman. The conversation was heavy, and lasted for more than 2 hours. The problem was in marital relations, finances, and spouse abuse. We finally got around to talking about on-base resources that might ease the load she was carrying: the Staff Judge Advocate, Family Services and Medics. Just listening, and then talking about potential on-base resources helped to lower the pressure. She finally agreed to wait until morning, now only a couple of hours distant, so that the resources we had discussed could be consulted.
First thing that morning, I got the base Family Services people into the act. They moved in fast, took control, got the airman's wife around to talk to the right people, and did a lot themselves. I checked back later. Family Services had her under their wing. She wasn't talking about murder-suicide any more. It was going to be one day at a time for her for a while. She now had somewhere on-base where she felt she could turn, and people in whom she had some confidence.
Why hadn't the woman tried Family Services on her own? I don't know. She chose the civilian community's suicide intervention resource. She had other options, and she might have tried them too. What's my point? Another instance in which military and civilian resources collaborated and made the system work.
Returnee
At about 11 PM one night, I was working my shift at the SPS hotline desk. A call came in from the switchboard supervisor at the city's telephone company. The supervisor said she had a man on-line and he was in a fury. She couldn't handle him. Would I take him? I told her to let me have him, and he was on.
It took a while to get him down to where he could speak coherently. He was an enlisted man in from Viet Nam, making his way to the East Coast. His problem wasn't suicide, it was homicide. He was in a barroom, he said, drinking and minding his own business. Shortly before his call, another patron had ridiculed his uniform and his Service. He had a weapon in his bag and had an almost overwhelming urge to use it.
A stranger in town, passing through, he felt he'd better divert and talk to someone. Searching for some means to vent his rage other than assault, he had, on impulse, picked up the barroom phone and dialed the operator. He must have come down real heavy on her and her supervisor; he found himself of a sudden switched to a hotline worker at the local SPS.
We talked for more than three hours. At the outset he was openly hostile, demanded to know who I was, and how the hell I had been loaded on to him. When I told him, he said he didn't know what 'suicide prevention' was about and wanted no part of it. But he didn't hang up, and we never hung up on anyone.
In our give-and-take, when he realized he was talking to someone who had more than a passing knowledge of the military, who could respond in his jargon and relate to his lifestyle and to his feelings, his hostility eased off. Other feelings began to surface.
He admitted that he had been deeply shaken and enraged by his experiences during border crossings into Cambodia, and he still carried the same, almost overwhelming, anger. Without my bringing it up, he confided that he'd had intense thoughts about self-injury, even suicide, and that the feelings had been strongest before taking off on missions. The rage, and the thoughts of suicide, were still with him and, looking back at them in calmer moments, he said that he was alarmed by their intensity. After a while, he admitted, reluctantly, that he might need help. He said he would think about seeking it out when he got to his permanent station.
At the close, he was much calmer. He phoned back a few hours later and told the hotline worker on duty that he was at the bus depot, and would soon leave for the east. He said to pass the word to me that he was OK.
~~~
Collaboration
Eventually, it became evident to me from my IG and SPS experiences, that much could be accomplished through a carefully designed system for collaboration between military bases (or other federal agencies) in any given geographic area and the crisis intervention/suicide prevention (ci/sp) resources of adjacent civilian communities. The potential for good was enormous, not only for and within the military community, but national as well. I learned in time that I was not alone; many others, professionals and lay, were thinking and active along similar lines.
I was convinced that the time was long past for both military and civilian managers and supervisors, in both the public and private sectors to acquire basic indoctrination in ci/sp as it pertained to the people that they commanded or supervised. I wrote numerous letters on the issue, recommending specific actions, and continued doing so after I retired in 1974. My appeals went to the Federal Executive, Congress, and the media. I stressed the urgent need for proactive command (or agency)-wide training and motivational programs to confront the suicide phenomenon, and get organized to reduce suicide attempts and deliberate self-destructive behavior among military personnel, members of their families, and DoD and other Departments' employees.
The essence of my appeal was, first, for a set of formal objectives for the federal military and civil services to move them toward collaboration with community resources that were engaged in grass roots suicide prevention; in essence, collaboration and teamwork between the federal government, as an employer of people, and the communities in which their people lived and worked. If the concept could get a foot in the door at the federal level, then state and county governments might hitch a ride on the system, and ultimately, so would private sector employers. In made no difference which level took the initiative, cross feed and human nature would eventually get the others interested. The suicide trend, the way I read the Public Health Service's statistics of the early and mid-70s, was heading up.
Many government and private sector employers already had in-house programs for stress management. They also had employees who, although lay persons, had been trained and qualified to give emergency CPR and other forms of first aid at the work site. So why not someone in the shop or office who was basically trained in suicide prevention and crisis intervention? As with other on-site emergency services, this person, who would have been trained and qualified to recognize discernible and professionally recognized signs that might precede a suicide attempt, would consult with a supervisor, and exercise his/her judgment in getting the person-in-distress ASAP to professional help.
Community suicide prevention programs (certified SP Centers, informal hotlines, Community Mental Health Centers, etc.) had by that time become a fact of life: they existed, and were part of the system, organized or ad hoc. Proactive 'suicide prevention,' would generate its own force for being: it would not get canceled like an aircraft, ship, or construction program, to the contrary. With oversight by reasonable and conscientious leaders, managers, and supporters, suicide prevention would become ingrained, omnipresent, and a way of life in which everyone would play a vital role. Naive? Maybe, maybe not.
What is vital to sustain 'suicide prevention' is to spread the idea, and make it 'everybody's business.' Making the idea acceptable as 'everybody's business' would be 'everybody's job.' The 'everybody' would include parents and teachers and counselors of children and youth, police officers and rescue workers on the street, and supervisors, staff, and union officials in the workplace. It would be where people played, in their neighborhoods, and go along with each age group to where they would spend their retirement years.
For the elderly (among whom depression and suicide rates are very high) crisis intervention resources, and suicide prevention and risk-reduction depends on leaders and staff of health care institutions, administrators and staff in retirement residence and convalescent communities, senior centers, AARP chapters, and anywhere the elderly gather. The reality would also depend on the elderly themselves, individually and collectively, e.g., to get past the long history they inherited of bigotry, superstition, and ignorance when it comes to mental health, suicide, and helping survivors of suicide. Emphasis on adult education, support group discussions, and motivational training can help to reduce such barriers among middle year's adults (parents of school age children) as well as the elderly.
An article I wrote in 1984 Suicide Prevention Must Be Everybody's Business, was published in the January 14, 1985 issue of the Army, Navy and Air Force Times. I advocated an organized suicide prevention program within the military, which would include training and involvement of all active duty military, not confined to those in the medical and mental health fields. I posed the questions:
'a. Does your base have a program whereby supervisors and co-workers who might be confronted with suicidal people are trained to recognize the warning signs and refer potential suicides to professionals?
'b. Are any base personnel, especially security police, social actions or family support workers, trained in crisis intervention techniques? Are any of them volunteer workers in the local community's suicide prevention program?
'c. Does your base have any sort of arrangement with local suicide prevention centers or hotlines so that a civilian crisis worker can contact the base for information or assistance? Do civilian volunteers know exactly whom to call for help when a military person or dependent threatens suicide?
'd. Do your base officials routinely check with local crisis clinics to find out the number and types of distress calls being received from military people? Is this information analyzed to determine trends or patterns?
'e. Do your base mental health workers give talks to active duty and dependents' groups on this subject? Are civilian experts in suicide prevention brought on base to explain their services?'
The following month (February 22, 1985), the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff issued a Memorandum for Major Commands and Staff Agencies which stated in part, 'The Department of the Army has developed a Suicide Prevention Strategy designed to help commanders deal with this problem. Commanders must use this plan and complement it with initiatives tailored to specific needs.' Over the following months the Army issued implementing Departmental, major command, and subordinate level Regulations, programs, and guides.
Later that same year (1985), I secured copies of studies, plans, directives, motivational guides and other documents published by NIMH, the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), and the Army on their in-house suicide prevention programs and which they provided to me in response to my appeals. I compiled and self-published in book form the material that I received, and marketed it on a not-for-profit basis to cover my printing and related costs. My initial report, printed on Feb 26, 1971 (during Viet Nam) was 'Summary and Commentary on the Institute in Suicidology in Los Angeles January 23-27 1971') and had limited distribution within the Air Force, and the next compilation was in June 1985, 'Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention.' A subsequent update was published in 1988 'Suicide Prevention Programs in the Department of Defense', and the last update, in 1994, returned to the original title 'Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention.'
Portions of the 1994 edition may be freely downloaded from the Project Gutenberg Archive Library (PGLAF) at:
http://preprints.readingroo.ms/suicide/
(Project Gutenberg Description: 'Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention, by Meyer Moldevan. Published in 1994, contains documents and analyses of policies, practices and outcomes related to suicide prevention. Separate scanned PDF files, which include news clippings and other difficult-to-format items.')
~~
My intent, in collecting and disseminating to the general public the suicide prevention programs and practices of the Armed Forces, NIMH, and other contributors. In effect, I joined the many lay military personnel and private citizens like myself who had become involved toward improving the system. Wide distribution might also promote cross feed and disclose conflicting policies and procedures. The process, itself, I felt, would encourage collaboration among professionals, paraprofessionals, and administrators and directors of suicide prevention entities in neighboring civilian communities. Further, I hoped that publicizing the Armed Forces' plans, procedures and practices for organized 'suicide prevention' and mental health generally would encourage other government departments and agencies to explore their need for comparable programs, and that potentially beneficial methodologies might spin off to the private sector.
My continuing interest in proactive and organized suicide prevention efforts in the Armed Forces led me to write to then Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, and to Senator Sam Nunn and Congressman Ronald Dellums in their responsibilities as Senate and House chairmen, respectively, of committees charged with the oversight of military affairs. A copy of my letter to and the response from the Office of the Secretary of Defense is included in this memoir.
Programs
A monumental medical, mental health, and social initiative was created in 'suicide prevention' by the original U S Army Suicide Prevention Plan, (Feb. 1985) prepared by the Directorate of Human Resources, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. The Plan called on each U.S. Army base to develop and publish an installation Suicide Prevention Plan. The plan would provide for Army active duty units, Army families, the Army Community, and civilian employees of the Army. Among its many parts were several concerned with Armed Forces' collaboration with civilian communities and other public and private sector mental health suicide prevention and crisis intervention resources (police, fire fighting, rescue services, etc). The Navy issued its program in 1987, and the Air Force issued formal policy guidance in 1997 on implementing their suicide prevention programs.
~~
The U. S. Army Suicide Prevention Program components links to relevant sites and contacts in effect at the time this memoir was posted online is at:
http://www.armyg1.army.mil/HR/suicide/d
~
The U. S. Navy/Marine Corps counterpart site is at:
http://www-nmcphc.med.navy.mil/hp/suici
~
The U. S. Air Force counterpart site is at:
http://afspp.afms.mil/idc/groups/pu
~~~
The following is quoted from the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Healthy People 2000 Report-Citizens Chart the Course, a separate volume of Healthy People 2000 that records the testimony and suggestions of citizens interviewed by the Public Health Service in the development of year 2000 national health objectives. The quote is from the section: Violent and Abusive Behavior, page 137):
'Meyer (Mike) Moldeven of Del Mar, California, says that volunteer training is an important component of successful suicide intervention for all ages: 'A community's suicide intervention and prevention resources - of which the suicide prevention center, crisis center, and hotline are elements - depend to an enormous degree on local paraprofessionals and trained volunteers.' In the workplace, employers already provide programs for stress management, as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first-aid training. Thus , 'why not a lay worker on the job site who is trained to function in an emergency suicide situation?' asks Moldeven. 'The United States Armed Forces have established formal suicide prevention programs, and their foundations may comparable programs for other employers.'
~~
The largest single federal department, formally recognizing suicide as a critical challenge to the good and welfare and the lives in general of their people, took a great leap forward by institutionalizing suicide prevention. With the foresight and efforts of advocates and caring managers, comparable initiatives, both formal and informal, can be expected from other government entities. When top-management directed - and supported - suicide intervention and prevention policies do take root throughout the federal system, as they inevitably will, they will merge or interact with adjacent Regional, State and community programs. The United States Armed Forces' everybody's business approach to crisis intervention and suicide prevention for their military and civilian populations has great potential for the public good.
Public and private sector employers and schools benefit from their awareness of policies, resources, and standard operating procedures for suicide intervention and prevention practiced by institutions and other employers in their area. Where such cross feed and mutuality does not prevail, employer-community initiatives can explore them and evaluate the results for their employees, their clients and customers, and the common good. Such efforts contribute to the well being of workers and their families; parents, teachers, counselors and students; encourage and improve industrial and community safety, and generally enhance esteem and mutual respect among employers and the community of which they are a part.
In order that sp policies, practices, and training can move forward with effect, information that will help the ultimate recipient of suicide prevention services needs to be disseminated to all levels and throughout all functions of the military and civilian communities: the line and the staff and their families; the civil services, academic and business communities, the domain of the elderly, and the general public. Readily accessible in public, institutional, and industry libraries, adapted to and ingrained into the system, the procedures and delineation of who-does-what in crisis intervention/suicide prevention will help to coordinate and improve plans, methods, and collaboration across the board. It would be a true win-win.
The news media and the Internet can alert employers that do not as yet have their own programs, and keep them informed of opportunities to participate.
~~~
STIGMA
(See 'Why Marines May Not Seek Help' in 'References' 2)
~~
Following is the text of a letter that I sent to the Secretary of Defense and the SecDef Office response
(from)
Meyer Moldeven
April 26, 1993
To:
Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301
Honorable Secretary:
(The opening paragraph in the original letter cited a number of suicides in a military organization. Identifying the activities involved is not relevant to the focus of this copy and has been omitted.)
There is one aspect of organizing around (suicide intervention and prevention)-all-services-that deserves review at command level and, if a covering policy or management system exists, that it be publicized throughout the services and in civilian communities adjacent military installations.
Normally, a military person with an intolerable personal problem tries to get relief from within the system of which he or she is part, e.g., a buddy, family support services, chain-of-command, personnel staff, the IG, etc. Many personal problems are not job related, but because of the victim's inability to cope, spill over and affect 'job.' When the person is in a suicidal crisis, realizes that help is urgently needed, and wants such help, he or she will not hesitate to contact whomever can provide it, if not from within the system then from outside.
Unless the military administrative system has changed on this point, a suicidal military person, or a suicidal member of his or her family who seeks help from within the system, believes that a record of the contact will be made. The 'record' transforms to stigma and a potential threat to present job and future career. 'Records,' more often than not, compel the person in a suicidal crisis to look elsewhere. Elsewhere includes the adjacent civilian community's crisis intervention resources, specifically, the suicide prevention telephone hotline where callers need not provide identification - they're as safe from being identified as anywhere they can be under their circumstances. The hotline worker does what can be accomplished quickly to keep the caller from slipping deeper into crisis and acting out a threat to suicide. They listen, offer nonjudgmental feedback, and together with the caller, explore options.
Almost invariably, when a civilian community crisis worker (telephone hotline or face-to-face) needs information on options unique to military life to help a suicidal military member or someone in his or her immediate family, the source is the nearest base's health care, personnel, or other administrative functions. Very often, when contacts with base officials occur and the worker has the name of a suicidal caller, confidentiality is literally vital; being tagged in the base's records as someone who phoned an off-base crisis center carries almost certain exposure to military authority, and might well add the final straw.
If it's accepted that the military base and its adjacent civilian community should cooperate in suicide intervention, then the civilian and military agencies need mutually accepted procedures to do the job. If a community's crisis resource has one set of procedures for cooperation from the Navy, another for the Marine Corps, and still others for the Army and the Air Force, confusion mounts and collaboration suffers. This is especially true when the situation is tight and there isn't much time to keep a suicide threat from becoming an act. To the telephone hotline worker in suicide prevention center it makes no difference whatsoever if the person on the other end of the line is a soldier, sailor, airman, marine - or civilian. On the other side of the scale, however, is the we-take-care-of-our-own turf, and that, to the suicidal person, is meaningless.
I hoped that, by now, military bases would have been further along in collaborating with adjacent civilian suicide prevention resources and that such teamwork would be reflected in base and community media. How else would a military person or a member of his or her family on the edge of a life-death decision for themselves know where to go or whom to phone, especially where their privacy and confidentiality would be respected - if they decided to take a chance to continue living? Is a city telephone directory listing for the local crisis center enough?
Agreements, procedures and contact points for military-civilian teamwork in suicide prevention deserve to begin on a county, metropolitan, or other regional basis, rather than in single-base to community understandings, especially where the area has bases representing different services. When all the services in an area have maximum understanding among themselves about collaborating with community suicide intervention resources, it will optimize the support that they and their people as individuals can ask for from that resource, and the help that the hotline worker can offer to them. In effect, when a civilian suicide hotline has been appealed to for help by a military member/family member, the crisis worker will have clearly written, mutually agreed upon procedures for communications and actions with each base in the area. All concerned will have been trained, tested, and know to the greatest degree possible who is going to do what. With present computer networking capabilities the resources indices in such guides can be readily maintained current and widely disseminated throughout a region and on and among military installations.
The opinions in this letter are my own, and are based on my experiences as a civilian IG-analyst and suicide prevention hotline volunteer in the late '60s/early 70s (and hassling the bureaucracy on this issue into the mid-80s.) I am not now associated with any mental health profession or military organization-strictly a private citizen. It may be that what I've suggested already exists or, conversely, that it isn't justified; I don't know, but I would be remiss not to present my views for your consideration.
Respectfully,
s/Moldeven
~
Reply
(From) Office of the Secretary of Defense
Washington D. C. 20301
(Force Management and Personnel)
1 June 1993
(To) Mr. Meyer Moldeven
Thank you for your letter of April 26, 1993 to Mr. Les Aspin, regarding suicide prevention programs in the Department of Defense.
Your letter prompted a review of policy in the Department of Defense on suicide prevention. The Department of Defense does not address suicide prevention in its directive on Health Promotion. That directive was published March 11, 1986, and is in need of revision. The Department is reviewing and revising that directive and a suicide prevention section will be added. We will address in the development of that section the issues you raised in your letter to Mr. Aspin.
Thank you for your interest and continued concern in this important mental health area.
S/Nicolai Timenes, Jr.
Principal Director
(Military Manpower and Personnel Policy)
(added, hand-written: 'Thanks!')
~~~~~
REFERENCES
1. Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act introduced for stronger suicide prevention programs in the DoD.
http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/rec
Quoted, first 2 paragraphs: 'With new reports this week showing a steady rise in U.S. Army suicides among its active-duty personnel since the invasion of Iraq, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and several of his colleagues introduced a bill that would direct the Department of Defense to enhance its suicide-prevention programs. The legislation, Webb said, 'places greater emphasis on the well-being and welfare of our troops.'
'The 'Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act' mandates an evaluation and enhancement of the military’s suicide prevention programs to ensure that they address the combat stress faced by troops today. The bill also establishes an outreach campaign to soldiers and families to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems and to encourage those needing help to seek it.
~~~
2. Leaders Guide for Managing Marines in Distress
http://www.usmc-mccs.org/leadersguide/E
Excerpt: Why Marines May Not Seek Help
• Fear that seeking help will negatively impact their careers.
• Fear of commander having complete access to mental health records.
• Belief that mental health information is entered into their military record.
• A command climate that discourages getting help.
Marines may be reluctant to seek help because of fears that such help will negatively impact their careers. Unfortunately, this often means a Marine in distress delays seeking help until the problem becomes so big that it affects their behavior both on and off work until, ultimately, they begin to collect Page 11 counseling entries, Letters of Reprimand, and NJPs. The consequence of waiting too long to seek help is what damages their career. Getting help early does not. As leaders, you must combat the myth that seeking help early damages careers.
Another fear Marines have is that their Commander will have complete access to their mental health records. In fact, however, for most of those who self-refer to Mental Health, confidentiality is maintained. In cases where information is released, the cases either involve mandatory reporting or the unit leadership was solicited to be a resource for the member (with the Marine's consent).
Some Marines incorrectly believe mental health information is entered into their Military Record. Mental health clinical information is recorded in the outpatient medical record and the appropriate mental health file but not the Military Record unless they are found unfit or unsuitable for duty.
~~~
3. First paragraph in an article ' Preventing Suicide' in the National Journal: Formulating a Plan' at:
http://www.preventsuicide.net/arti
Formulating a plan. When Lt. Gen. Charles “Chip” Roadman II convened a diverse team of military and civilian experts in summer 1996 to consider how to reduce skyrocketing suicide rates in the U.S. Air Force, he never imagined the program they would develop could have such prominent and far-reaching effects.
With that program - the first of its kind to suggest that suicide is a preventable public health problem - in place service-wide, USAF rates plummeted to just 2.2/100,000 in the first eight months of 1999. Quite a decrease from a high of 16.4/100,000 in 1994.
David Litts, O.D., Colonel, USAF, was a member of the team and remembers well June and July of 1996 when he and about 75 others gathered to consider how best to attack soaring suicide rates in the Air Force.
~~
4. (CNN Report: Excerpt) Pentagon: Military's mental health care needs help
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/15/milita
• A new report says the military is unable to provide adequate psychological care
• Insufficient funding, prejudices toward mental illness are part of the problem
• Long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have made mental health a major issue
(CNN) -- A Pentagon report released Friday says the military's mental health services need some serious therapy.
'The military health system lacks the fiscal resources and the fully trained personnel to fulfill its mission to support psychological health in peacetime or fulfill the enhanced requirements imposed during times of conflict,' according to 'An Achievable Vision,' a report from the Pentagon's Task Force on Mental Health.
The task force members reviewed information in public testimony from 'experts and advocates' and people at military installations across the world.
Here are some of the findings.
'A stigma attached to mental health problems among service members 'remains pervasive and often prevents service members from seeking needed care.'
'Existing processes for psychological assessment are insufficient to overcome the stigma inherent in seeking mental health services.'
'Mental health professionals are not sufficiently accessible to service members.'
'Leaders, family members, and medical personnel are insufficiently trained in matters relating to psychological health.'
'Some Department of Defense policies, including those related to command notification or self-disclosure of psychological health issues, are overly conservative.'
'Significant gaps in the continuum of care for psychological health remain, specifically related to which services are offered, where services are offered, and who receives services.'
'Family members have difficulty obtaining adequate mental health treatment.'
The military lacks 'enough fiscal or personnel resources to adequately support' psychological help of service members and their families.
Military treatment facilities don't 'provide a full continuum of psychological health care services for active duty service members and their families.'
The number of active duty mental health professionals is insufficient and likely to decrease without substantial intervention.
The network benefit addressing psychological health 'is hindered by fragmented rules and policies, inadequate oversight, and insufficient reimbursement.'
The task force wants to correct these deficiencies by working to dispel biases against mental health care, making professionals accessible and embedding 'psychological health training throughout military life.'
It calls for changing 'policies to reflect current knowledge about psychological health, making 'psychological assessment procedures an effective, efficient, and normal part of military life,' and ensuring that the military health network's provisions 'fulfill beneficiaries' mental health needs.'
With U.S. troops fighting long, grueling wars this decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health has emerged as a major issue.
A Pentagon survey last month that assessed the mental health of troops in Iraq found one-third of soldiers and Marines in high levels of combat report anxiety, depression and acute stress.
According to that report, soldiers who were deployed more than six months or multiple times were more likely to screen positive for a mental health issue.
~~
5. Where There's Hope, There's Help
The National Mental Health Awareness Campaign at
http://www.nostigma.org/
…is a nationwide nonpartisan public education campaign launched as part of the 1999 White House Conference on Mental Health organized by Tipper Gore. The Campaign's aim is to accomplish its mission by utilizing three programs; youth outreach, Mental Health Media Partnership, and Roundtable discussions on various topics.
What is Stigma?
Stigma goes far beyond the misuse of words and information, it is about disrespect. Stigma is commonly defined as the use of stereotypes and labels when describing someone. Stereotypes are often attached to people who are suffering from a mental illness. The simple fact is that no one fully understands how the brain works and why, at times, it works differently in different people. Our society tends to not give the same acceptance to brain disorders as we do to other organ disorders, say, heart trouble. The stigma surrounding these misunderstandings can limit opportunities, it can stand in the way of a new job, it can increase feelings of loneliness, and it can cause many other unfortunate outcomes. Stigma must, and can, be exposed and overcome. Everyone must know that it is not their fault and that it is OK to ask for help.
What can you do?
If you know someone that seems extremely upset, maybe someone who displays extreme mood changes, or maybe even you yourself feel emotionally out of place at times ... the time is now to act, help, assist, notify, inform and get better. You just might be surprised on how much you can accomplish through understanding, hope, and friendship.
~~
6. Army Releases Suicide Data, Promotes Prevention Programs
http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/news/r
~~
7. Mental Health Consumers' Experience of Stigma (by Otto K Wahl) at:
http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjour
~~~~~
8. 'Hearing' disabilities (This Reference added as relevant to the mental health and well-being of the troops and their families.)
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_i
Troops Return with Alarming Rates of Hearing Loss. Noise-induced hearing loss is on the rise among U.S. servicemen and women ...
(First two paragraphs) quote:
Troops Return with Alarming Rates of Hearing Loss
As printed in Hearing Health, volume 20:3, Fall 2004
'War is obviously a highly hazardous endeavor for military personnel. And although weapons that pose the greatest hazards change over time, one thing remains the same: war is dangerously loud.
'The headline of this article undoubtedly applied to any number of past conflicts. It certainly did when hundreds of thousands of Americans returned from World War II. In fact, their need for hearing help contributed to the emergence of audiology as a new field of healthcare. It should be a matter of great national concern, however, that the current situation is so severe despite six decades of advances in methods of hearing conservation.'
Book (title) 'Noise And Military Service: Implications For Hearing Loss And Tinnitus'
Larry E. Humes, Lois M. Joellenbeck, and Jane S. Durch, Editors, Committee on Noise-Induced Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Associated with Military Service from World War II to the Present. 338 pages, 6 x 9, 2005, National Academies Press.
Context
The Institute of Medicine carried out a study mandated by Congress and sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide an assessment of several issues related to noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus associated with service in the Armed Forces since World War II. The resulting book, Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, presents findings on the presence of hazardous noise in military settings, levels of noise exposure necessary to cause hearing loss or tinnitus, risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus, the timing of the effects of noise exposure on hearing, and the adequacy of military hearing conservation programs and audiometric testing. The book stresses the importance of conducting hearing tests (audiograms) at the beginning and end of military service for all military personnel and recommends several steps aimed at improving the military services prevention of and surveillance for hearing loss and tinnitus. The book also identifies research needs, emphasizing topics specifically related to military service.
(The Website Home Page for this book, under the heading 'Free Resources' includes the note: 'Full Text. Jump to this book's table of contents to begin reading online for free. Related Items'
~~~~~
9. Bush signs bill boosting veterans mental illness screening and treating
http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2
~~~~~
10. Suicide Prevention Programs (List)
http://usmilitary.about.com/sitese
~~~~~
11. Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery, RAND Corporation, 2008. (Section on 'Suicide' begins on page 128 of Report's text.)
http://www.rand.org/multi/military/
The RAND Corporation conducted a comprehensive study of the mental health and cognitive needs of U.S. service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, the costs associated with mental health and cognitive conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and traumatic brain injury, and the care systems available to deliver treatment. The study is the first of its kind to consider mental health and cognitive problems associated with deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq from a broad societal perspective.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE 7.30.09 To LJ and readers: I have been notified by 'Live Journal' that cumulative length of my entries to this blog has reached allowable limits. The subject: 'Suicide Prevention' called for it; my sincere gratitude to you 'Live Journal' for the space that you did permit me to use. I have set up a companion to this blog on BLOGGER, title: 'Suicide Prevention is Everybody's Business' and its at
http://suicidepreventioniseverybodysbus
Please check it out. Thank you all for 'being.'
Mike
----------
Added to this blog: June 10, 2009. Submitted June 1, 2009 to the U. S. 'Open Government Dialogue' at:
http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/d
Subject: Suicide Prevention in All Federal Departments
Department of Defense components have created 'suicide prevention' programs and trained their military and civilian personnel to be alert and responsive to the needs of their organizations and circumstances. The DoD programs lend themselves to being adapted throughout all Federal Departments and Agencies. When the Federal Government (as an employer) adopts 'suicide prevention' as an essential element in the health and well-being of its employees then similar concepts and practices will have a better chance in the private sector.
I therefore suggest a top down directive to all federal departments that will encourage suicide prevention training for federal employees that are in supervisory positions, hear and investigate employee complaints, interact with survivors of suicide (military as well as civilian), and others that have duties in law enforcement, security, mental health, supervising conduct of prisoners, and comparable positions.
Why Is This Idea Important?
'The nation is experiencing extraordinary stresses that adversely influence people in all walks of life. The number of calls to suicide prevention 'hotlines' has increased. Employers have a role in dealing with suicidal conduct, ideation, and attempts. Police officers and hospital staff often see successful suicides. Understanding the phenomenon and how to interact with a suicidal person, including getting him or her to professional help ASAP is vital. Suicide prevention is everybody's business.
Make it so. 'See my blog:
Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/8
DISCLAIMER: The author of this blog was a volunteer 'hotline' worker in a county suicide prevention service during the Viet Nam War. His paraprofessional certification has lapsed and he is no longer qualified or authorized to offer 'suicide prevention' advice. If you are depressed, self-destructive and/or thinking of suicide get professional help without delay. If you are in an emotional crisis and don't know to whom or where you can turn for help phone/contact your physician, therapist, community 'suicide prevention' service or hotline, or phone the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-talk. Content of this blog is for your information only (FYI).
~~~~~~
Preface: Based on notes I made in the late 1970s at a suicide prevention conference I attended in San Francisco: Dr. Edwin Shneidman, a pioneer and leader in 'suicide prevention' and one of the founders of the American Association of Suicidology was the Speaker. Reconstructing from my notes: ' … people are acutely bent on self-destruction for relatively brief periods in their lives. The most accurate temporal unit would be hours, perhaps days. A person is rarely highly lethal for a long period of time. Either there are some changes or he/she is dead. So the moral question has to be asked. Why in the total span of life would you resonate to a tiny fraction of an individual's life span? When a man/woman says (ambivalently) 'I want to kill myself.' for a few days of his/her life, why disregard the rest of his/her existence? If he/she can be given some sanctuary or surcease, he/she would not be suicidal after that period.'
~~~
Introduction: Mental health experts have come to accept paraprofessional-level suicide intervention and prevention workers as among those in the forefront of primary resources. The view is that their intervention might reduce the lethality of a person contemplating suicide, and even influence someone who has actually initiated an act of suicide.
Dr. Calvin Frederick, a past President of the American Association of Suicidology wrote (quoting):
Dealing with suicidal behavior, that is, suicide prevention) differs from more classical diagnostic and treatment procedures in the following respects:
1. suicidal behavior covers a broad range of disturbances and personalities and is, therefore, not a unitary concept;
2. it possesses a unique life or death quality;
3. intervention does not utilize traditional therapy methods;
4. the problem is multidimensional and multidisciplinary, often involving social and cultural attitudes, the law, medical intervention, and innovative psychological approaches;
5. the use of indigenous volunteers as stable and sensitive crisis workers is greater than that found in most aspects of therapeutic endeavor.
~~~
Context: There is a general observation among experts in suicide and suicide prevention that official statistics on the number of suicides and suicide attempts in any identified population are like the tips of icebergs. They do not reveal to a casual reader the reality of how many individuals in that population killed themselves intentionally and separately, how many tried to kill themselves, failed, and might try again. Authoritative estimates occasionally appear in both professional and popular media that there are about eight suicides in fact for each certified as a suicide for the official record, and about fifteen unsuccessful attempts at suicide for each classified as such, again for the official count.
At this writing, according to figures compiled by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), suicide rates are rising for teenagers while declining or holding steady in other age groups. Between 1980 and 1993, the suicide rate rose 120 percent for 10 to 14-year olds, and almost 30 percent for 15 to 19-year olds. In part, this rise can be attributed to the increasing availability of firearms, but, in addition, (according to the American Association of Suicidology) 'there are more depressed kids.' And while the actual number of suicides remains quite small - in 1993 there were 315 students in the age group 10 to 14-year old and 1,884 students in the age group 15 to 19-year old who committed suicide. A 1993 study of 16,000 high school students conducted by the CDC found that an astonishing 1 in 12 said that he or she had attempted suicide the previous year.
Camouflage is not unusual: suicide preparations may be arranged so that the act will appear as an accident. An ailing individual might suddenly stop taking life-saving medication; or family members, friends, or 'significant others' might goad or exert harsh psychological pressures on an emotionally distraught person so that suicide becomes the only escape. Ironically, 'suicide statistics' do not examine the impact of a suicide on the victim's family and friends, nor do they note the traumatic and often permanent effects of the failed attempt on the victim. Further, they ignore the financial burden of subsequent home or institutional and health care for victim and family as well as paying for precautions against further attempts.
~~~
Relevant background of the writer:
Before I retired from the federal civil service in 1974 I was the civilian deputy to the Inspector General (IG) at McClellan Air Force Base, a large military installation near Sacramento, California. I was and am a civilian and a non-professional/lay person in all mental health disciplines. I attribute my involvement in 'suicide prevention' to circumstances of the 'Viet Nam' years. Accordingly, this memoir is presented 'FYI (For your information only.)
During 'Viet Nam', many military medical and mental health professionals, support staff, and others in healthcare disciplines were on duty at medical and mental health facilities in Southeast Asia, at stations along routes for military personnel returning to the U S, and at medical and other facilities in the U. S. where Armed Forces wounded received care.A general shortage of mental health specialists and staff existed at military installations in both the field overseas and throughout the continental U. S. According to reports in the media, the same situation prevails where comparable requirements are urgent in current Middle East conflicts where the U. S. Armed Forces are active. During 'Viet Nam', existing staff, including untrained civilian employees, were often assigned 'additional duties' to fill gaps.
In 1968, the McClellan Air Force Base senior Commander directed me to represent him on the Sacramento County mental health council. At the time, community leaders were considering creating a Suicide Prevention Service (SPS) to meet urgent needs within the area. The SPS was approved, and I was invited to train for and join the SPS volunteer staff. As the SPS functions and workload became clear, I took paraprofessional training to certification and when the Service became operational took my turn on the 'hotline,' especially calls related to needs of the Armed Forces military and their families. I extended my duties to include SPS liaison with several military installations in the area.
At that time, central California and Nevada had military facilities where military personnel of all Services were stationed for training, support, and operations, or who were in transit to or from Southeast Asia. In effect, the Sacramento-San Francisco corridor in the late 1960s-early 1970s was filled with military personnel on their way to and from Viet Nam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. From the outset, as word spread about Sacramento County's SPS hotline, increasing numbers of calls came in from potential and selected draftees, active duty, and retired members of the Armed Forces and their families.
USAF Inspector General Complaints Program
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/airf
~
One of my McClellan AFB Inspector General responsibilities was to organize and operate McClellan AFB's support to the Air Force Inspector General Complaints System. A basic principle of the IG System holds that, as a last resort within their organizations, active and retired military personnel and members of their families, and civilian employees have the right to address a grievance or an appeal to the installation's Inspector General.
The installation Inspector General represents the installation's senior Commander in these matters. An appeal to the IG may be for information and explanations concerning status and duties, to describe perceived unreasonable conditions under which the appellant works, to report on inadequate support to themselves or their dependents or, for other reasons to seek relief from what the grievant considers an intolerable and unjustifiable situation.
The IG, or deputy IG, acting for the senior Commander hears complaints and appeals and conducts such inquiries and investigations that may be required to resolve the matters. In the context of this memoir, when hearing (or reading) a complaint, there were occasions when a complainant hinted at suicide as the only remaining option should he or she not be given what they considered a reasonable resolution of the problem they presented.
Shortly after the SP service became operational a significant number of phone calls came in from active duty military, military veterans and retired military of all Services, and from members of their families. Many, if not most, such calls (to the SPS) required information or actions from a military or other government entity.
The SPS policy was to not disclose a caller's identity: Protecting a caller's identity is (or was at the time) generally practiced by most crisis intervention centers unless the situation was an imminent life-death crisis.
Organized, volunteer-staffed, telephone suicide prevention 'hotline' services were beginning to appear in the larger cities throughout the U.S. in the late '60s; less than a hundred were in operation across the U.S. at the time. In order that I might better understand the 'suicide' phenomenon and to accomplish my duties in support of the USAF IG Complaints System, I became a regular volunteer at the SPS, attended their ongoing paraprofessional upgrade training, and worked a shift on the hotline. I served with the SPS Speakers Bureau, Executive Board and other committees and gave talks about the community program at staff, non-commissioned officers', military dependents', and civilian community meetings.
I compiled an information kit on suicide myths, and the signs that would generally indicate that a friend or family member might be thinking of suicide. I sent copies of whatever literature I acquired from the SPS and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to my counterparts at other military bases. The USAF Inspector General printed an article about the information kits in the USAF TIG BRIEF (The Inspector General Brief) an IG administrative newsletter distributed to USAF facilities worldwide and to the Hqs of the other Services. The TIG Brief newsletter was also distributed in Viet Nam. The item resulted in more than 150 requests from Southeast Asia for the information packet, which we forwarded.
During talks I gave to military and general audiences I was occasionally asked for examples of what 'hotline' exchanges with military callers were like. Two of the 3 summaries that follow were related to the Viet Nam conflict. The third is a problem all too common, regardless of the times; it happened and continues to happen as often in the civilian world as it does in the military. I've screened my recollections so as to honor my commitments to confidentiality. The narration reflects a tiny sample of the effects of stress that can surface in military life and is not intended to represent major emotional, behavioral, or physical indicators toward suicide ideation. My regular work shift at the SPS brought me as much of a military-civilian mix of callers as the other hotline workers, so I've seen both sides.
The contacts were all by telephone, and in two of the three cases led to a number of quick follow-on calls to several parties on and off the base. Each caller had the potential for violence, either to self or another. If intervention, at a high point in the interaction failed, the situation might well have deteriorated, possibly with tragic results.
Draftee
While on the job in the McClellan IG office, a phone call came in from the SPS Director who told me he needed my help right then. A young Army draftee was on the SPS hotline and he was threatening to commit suicide. He was supposed to be on his way to Viet Nam but he had gone AWOL instead. He was far from home and felt lost and confused. He said he had one question before deciding whether to kill himself: 'What'll they do to me if I turn myself in?' He wouldn't identify himself or say where he was.
The SPS Director said that he didn't have the answer. He told the soldier he had a contact at a nearby military base that could check it out. Holding him on one line he called me on another and gave me the facts. I immediately called the Staff Judge Advocate - who was part of my on-base network - and had him phone the SPS Director immediately to review the ramifications of military justice as it might apply. The SPS Director passed the information to the soldier and then talked to him for about an hour. The guidance provided by the Staff Judge Advocate gave the soldier options that might reduce potential charges he faced, not ruling out desertion. We never found out what the soldier decided; he never called back.
This call, and how it was handled, demonstrated teamwork between a community suicide prevention resource and military and civil service administrators on a military base. Comparable groundbreaking was going on in other military-civilian communities and contexts.
~~
The following letter to the Editor, 'Suicide Before Deployment' was published in the NYTimes June 9, 2009
To the Editor:
While there is no doubt a connection between combat stress and suicide (“Intolerable Rise in Soldier Suicides,” editorial, June 7), attention must also be given to soldiers who take their lives before deployment.
The armed forces, pressed to meet recruiting goals, too often ignore signs of mental illness and willingly accept into their ranks recruits too mentally fragile to survive in the military, let alone serve. Although the presence of a mental illness should not be a bar to serving one’s country, the military must provide better screening of new recruits.
No doubt many recruits are separated from service before deployment because of psychiatric problems that were ignored or minimized at the time of induction. And many separate themselves, through suicide.
(The writer is a professional in mental health.)
~
Family Problem
The Base Chaplain called me at home late one Sunday night and said he'd had a phone call from a hotline worker at the community SPS. The SPS worker had asked for his help in a call that had come in from an airman's wife. She had phoned the SPS from her home off base and threatened to kill her husband and then commit suicide.
The caller to the SPS had impulsively terminated the call to the SPS after a few minutes, but in her responses to questions at the outset of the interview, had given her phone number to the crisis worker. After she hung up, the crisis worker judged the woman was more than moderately lethal, and also that she might listen to a military Chaplain. That brought on the call to the Base Chaplain.
After getting the specifics from the crisis worker, the Chaplain phoned the woman and talked to her for about 10 minutes before she hung up on him too. His conclusion, also, was that she was highly lethal for both homicide and suicide. He phoned the Base Security Police and then the Director of Personnel. The Chaplain was leaving that day for Viet Nam; the Director of Personnel suggested he call me.
The Chaplain asked me to follow up. I called the woman. The conversation was heavy, and lasted for more than 2 hours. The problem was in marital relations, finances, and spouse abuse. We finally got around to talking about on-base resources that might ease the load she was carrying: the Staff Judge Advocate, Family Services and Medics. Just listening, and then talking about potential on-base resources helped to lower the pressure. She finally agreed to wait until morning, now only a couple of hours distant, so that the resources we had discussed could be consulted.
First thing that morning, I got the base Family Services people into the act. They moved in fast, took control, got the airman's wife around to talk to the right people, and did a lot themselves. I checked back later. Family Services had her under their wing. She wasn't talking about murder-suicide any more. It was going to be one day at a time for her for a while. She now had somewhere on-base where she felt she could turn, and people in whom she had some confidence.
Why hadn't the woman tried Family Services on her own? I don't know. She chose the civilian community's suicide intervention resource. She had other options, and she might have tried them too. What's my point? Another instance in which military and civilian resources collaborated and made the system work.
Returnee
At about 11 PM one night, I was working my shift at the SPS hotline desk. A call came in from the switchboard supervisor at the city's telephone company. The supervisor said she had a man on-line and he was in a fury. She couldn't handle him. Would I take him? I told her to let me have him, and he was on.
It took a while to get him down to where he could speak coherently. He was an enlisted man in from Viet Nam, making his way to the East Coast. His problem wasn't suicide, it was homicide. He was in a barroom, he said, drinking and minding his own business. Shortly before his call, another patron had ridiculed his uniform and his Service. He had a weapon in his bag and had an almost overwhelming urge to use it.
A stranger in town, passing through, he felt he'd better divert and talk to someone. Searching for some means to vent his rage other than assault, he had, on impulse, picked up the barroom phone and dialed the operator. He must have come down real heavy on her and her supervisor; he found himself of a sudden switched to a hotline worker at the local SPS.
We talked for more than three hours. At the outset he was openly hostile, demanded to know who I was, and how the hell I had been loaded on to him. When I told him, he said he didn't know what 'suicide prevention' was about and wanted no part of it. But he didn't hang up, and we never hung up on anyone.
In our give-and-take, when he realized he was talking to someone who had more than a passing knowledge of the military, who could respond in his jargon and relate to his lifestyle and to his feelings, his hostility eased off. Other feelings began to surface.
He admitted that he had been deeply shaken and enraged by his experiences during border crossings into Cambodia, and he still carried the same, almost overwhelming, anger. Without my bringing it up, he confided that he'd had intense thoughts about self-injury, even suicide, and that the feelings had been strongest before taking off on missions. The rage, and the thoughts of suicide, were still with him and, looking back at them in calmer moments, he said that he was alarmed by their intensity. After a while, he admitted, reluctantly, that he might need help. He said he would think about seeking it out when he got to his permanent station.
At the close, he was much calmer. He phoned back a few hours later and told the hotline worker on duty that he was at the bus depot, and would soon leave for the east. He said to pass the word to me that he was OK.
~~~
Collaboration
Eventually, it became evident to me from my IG and SPS experiences, that much could be accomplished through a carefully designed system for collaboration between military bases (or other federal agencies) in any given geographic area and the crisis intervention/suicide prevention (ci/sp) resources of adjacent civilian communities. The potential for good was enormous, not only for and within the military community, but national as well. I learned in time that I was not alone; many others, professionals and lay, were thinking and active along similar lines.
I was convinced that the time was long past for both military and civilian managers and supervisors, in both the public and private sectors to acquire basic indoctrination in ci/sp as it pertained to the people that they commanded or supervised. I wrote numerous letters on the issue, recommending specific actions, and continued doing so after I retired in 1974. My appeals went to the Federal Executive, Congress, and the media. I stressed the urgent need for proactive command (or agency)-wide training and motivational programs to confront the suicide phenomenon, and get organized to reduce suicide attempts and deliberate self-destructive behavior among military personnel, members of their families, and DoD and other Departments' employees.
The essence of my appeal was, first, for a set of formal objectives for the federal military and civil services to move them toward collaboration with community resources that were engaged in grass roots suicide prevention; in essence, collaboration and teamwork between the federal government, as an employer of people, and the communities in which their people lived and worked. If the concept could get a foot in the door at the federal level, then state and county governments might hitch a ride on the system, and ultimately, so would private sector employers. In made no difference which level took the initiative, cross feed and human nature would eventually get the others interested. The suicide trend, the way I read the Public Health Service's statistics of the early and mid-70s, was heading up.
Many government and private sector employers already had in-house programs for stress management. They also had employees who, although lay persons, had been trained and qualified to give emergency CPR and other forms of first aid at the work site. So why not someone in the shop or office who was basically trained in suicide prevention and crisis intervention? As with other on-site emergency services, this person, who would have been trained and qualified to recognize discernible and professionally recognized signs that might precede a suicide attempt, would consult with a supervisor, and exercise his/her judgment in getting the person-in-distress ASAP to professional help.
Community suicide prevention programs (certified SP Centers, informal hotlines, Community Mental Health Centers, etc.) had by that time become a fact of life: they existed, and were part of the system, organized or ad hoc. Proactive 'suicide prevention,' would generate its own force for being: it would not get canceled like an aircraft, ship, or construction program, to the contrary. With oversight by reasonable and conscientious leaders, managers, and supporters, suicide prevention would become ingrained, omnipresent, and a way of life in which everyone would play a vital role. Naive? Maybe, maybe not.
What is vital to sustain 'suicide prevention' is to spread the idea, and make it 'everybody's business.' Making the idea acceptable as 'everybody's business' would be 'everybody's job.' The 'everybody' would include parents and teachers and counselors of children and youth, police officers and rescue workers on the street, and supervisors, staff, and union officials in the workplace. It would be where people played, in their neighborhoods, and go along with each age group to where they would spend their retirement years.
For the elderly (among whom depression and suicide rates are very high) crisis intervention resources, and suicide prevention and risk-reduction depends on leaders and staff of health care institutions, administrators and staff in retirement residence and convalescent communities, senior centers, AARP chapters, and anywhere the elderly gather. The reality would also depend on the elderly themselves, individually and collectively, e.g., to get past the long history they inherited of bigotry, superstition, and ignorance when it comes to mental health, suicide, and helping survivors of suicide. Emphasis on adult education, support group discussions, and motivational training can help to reduce such barriers among middle year's adults (parents of school age children) as well as the elderly.
An article I wrote in 1984 Suicide Prevention Must Be Everybody's Business, was published in the January 14, 1985 issue of the Army, Navy and Air Force Times. I advocated an organized suicide prevention program within the military, which would include training and involvement of all active duty military, not confined to those in the medical and mental health fields. I posed the questions:
'a. Does your base have a program whereby supervisors and co-workers who might be confronted with suicidal people are trained to recognize the warning signs and refer potential suicides to professionals?
'b. Are any base personnel, especially security police, social actions or family support workers, trained in crisis intervention techniques? Are any of them volunteer workers in the local community's suicide prevention program?
'c. Does your base have any sort of arrangement with local suicide prevention centers or hotlines so that a civilian crisis worker can contact the base for information or assistance? Do civilian volunteers know exactly whom to call for help when a military person or dependent threatens suicide?
'd. Do your base officials routinely check with local crisis clinics to find out the number and types of distress calls being received from military people? Is this information analyzed to determine trends or patterns?
'e. Do your base mental health workers give talks to active duty and dependents' groups on this subject? Are civilian experts in suicide prevention brought on base to explain their services?'
The following month (February 22, 1985), the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff issued a Memorandum for Major Commands and Staff Agencies which stated in part, 'The Department of the Army has developed a Suicide Prevention Strategy designed to help commanders deal with this problem. Commanders must use this plan and complement it with initiatives tailored to specific needs.' Over the following months the Army issued implementing Departmental, major command, and subordinate level Regulations, programs, and guides.
Later that same year (1985), I secured copies of studies, plans, directives, motivational guides and other documents published by NIMH, the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), and the Army on their in-house suicide prevention programs and which they provided to me in response to my appeals. I compiled and self-published in book form the material that I received, and marketed it on a not-for-profit basis to cover my printing and related costs. My initial report, printed on Feb 26, 1971 (during Viet Nam) was 'Summary and Commentary on the Institute in Suicidology in Los Angeles January 23-27 1971') and had limited distribution within the Air Force, and the next compilation was in June 1985, 'Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention.' A subsequent update was published in 1988 'Suicide Prevention Programs in the Department of Defense', and the last update, in 1994, returned to the original title 'Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention.'
Portions of the 1994 edition may be freely downloaded from the Project Gutenberg Archive Library (PGLAF) at:
http://preprints.readingroo.ms/suicide/
(Project Gutenberg Description: 'Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention, by Meyer Moldevan. Published in 1994, contains documents and analyses of policies, practices and outcomes related to suicide prevention. Separate scanned PDF files, which include news clippings and other difficult-to-format items.')
~~
My intent, in collecting and disseminating to the general public the suicide prevention programs and practices of the Armed Forces, NIMH, and other contributors. In effect, I joined the many lay military personnel and private citizens like myself who had become involved toward improving the system. Wide distribution might also promote cross feed and disclose conflicting policies and procedures. The process, itself, I felt, would encourage collaboration among professionals, paraprofessionals, and administrators and directors of suicide prevention entities in neighboring civilian communities. Further, I hoped that publicizing the Armed Forces' plans, procedures and practices for organized 'suicide prevention' and mental health generally would encourage other government departments and agencies to explore their need for comparable programs, and that potentially beneficial methodologies might spin off to the private sector.
My continuing interest in proactive and organized suicide prevention efforts in the Armed Forces led me to write to then Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, and to Senator Sam Nunn and Congressman Ronald Dellums in their responsibilities as Senate and House chairmen, respectively, of committees charged with the oversight of military affairs. A copy of my letter to and the response from the Office of the Secretary of Defense is included in this memoir.
Programs
A monumental medical, mental health, and social initiative was created in 'suicide prevention' by the original U S Army Suicide Prevention Plan, (Feb. 1985) prepared by the Directorate of Human Resources, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. The Plan called on each U.S. Army base to develop and publish an installation Suicide Prevention Plan. The plan would provide for Army active duty units, Army families, the Army Community, and civilian employees of the Army. Among its many parts were several concerned with Armed Forces' collaboration with civilian communities and other public and private sector mental health suicide prevention and crisis intervention resources (police, fire fighting, rescue services, etc). The Navy issued its program in 1987, and the Air Force issued formal policy guidance in 1997 on implementing their suicide prevention programs.
~~
The U. S. Army Suicide Prevention Program components links to relevant sites and contacts in effect at the time this memoir was posted online is at:
http://www.armyg1.army.mil/HR/suicide/d
~
The U. S. Navy/Marine Corps counterpart site is at:
http://www-nmcphc.med.navy.mil/hp/suici
~
The U. S. Air Force counterpart site is at:
http://afspp.afms.mil/idc/groups/pu
~~~
The following is quoted from the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Healthy People 2000 Report-Citizens Chart the Course, a separate volume of Healthy People 2000 that records the testimony and suggestions of citizens interviewed by the Public Health Service in the development of year 2000 national health objectives. The quote is from the section: Violent and Abusive Behavior, page 137):
'Meyer (Mike) Moldeven of Del Mar, California, says that volunteer training is an important component of successful suicide intervention for all ages: 'A community's suicide intervention and prevention resources - of which the suicide prevention center, crisis center, and hotline are elements - depend to an enormous degree on local paraprofessionals and trained volunteers.' In the workplace, employers already provide programs for stress management, as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first-aid training. Thus , 'why not a lay worker on the job site who is trained to function in an emergency suicide situation?' asks Moldeven. 'The United States Armed Forces have established formal suicide prevention programs, and their foundations may comparable programs for other employers.'
~~
The largest single federal department, formally recognizing suicide as a critical challenge to the good and welfare and the lives in general of their people, took a great leap forward by institutionalizing suicide prevention. With the foresight and efforts of advocates and caring managers, comparable initiatives, both formal and informal, can be expected from other government entities. When top-management directed - and supported - suicide intervention and prevention policies do take root throughout the federal system, as they inevitably will, they will merge or interact with adjacent Regional, State and community programs. The United States Armed Forces' everybody's business approach to crisis intervention and suicide prevention for their military and civilian populations has great potential for the public good.
Public and private sector employers and schools benefit from their awareness of policies, resources, and standard operating procedures for suicide intervention and prevention practiced by institutions and other employers in their area. Where such cross feed and mutuality does not prevail, employer-community initiatives can explore them and evaluate the results for their employees, their clients and customers, and the common good. Such efforts contribute to the well being of workers and their families; parents, teachers, counselors and students; encourage and improve industrial and community safety, and generally enhance esteem and mutual respect among employers and the community of which they are a part.
In order that sp policies, practices, and training can move forward with effect, information that will help the ultimate recipient of suicide prevention services needs to be disseminated to all levels and throughout all functions of the military and civilian communities: the line and the staff and their families; the civil services, academic and business communities, the domain of the elderly, and the general public. Readily accessible in public, institutional, and industry libraries, adapted to and ingrained into the system, the procedures and delineation of who-does-what in crisis intervention/suicide prevention will help to coordinate and improve plans, methods, and collaboration across the board. It would be a true win-win.
The news media and the Internet can alert employers that do not as yet have their own programs, and keep them informed of opportunities to participate.
~~~
STIGMA
(See 'Why Marines May Not Seek Help' in 'References' 2)
~~
Following is the text of a letter that I sent to the Secretary of Defense and the SecDef Office response
(from)
Meyer Moldeven
April 26, 1993
To:
Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301
Honorable Secretary:
(The opening paragraph in the original letter cited a number of suicides in a military organization. Identifying the activities involved is not relevant to the focus of this copy and has been omitted.)
There is one aspect of organizing around (suicide intervention and prevention)-all-services-that deserves review at command level and, if a covering policy or management system exists, that it be publicized throughout the services and in civilian communities adjacent military installations.
Normally, a military person with an intolerable personal problem tries to get relief from within the system of which he or she is part, e.g., a buddy, family support services, chain-of-command, personnel staff, the IG, etc. Many personal problems are not job related, but because of the victim's inability to cope, spill over and affect 'job.' When the person is in a suicidal crisis, realizes that help is urgently needed, and wants such help, he or she will not hesitate to contact whomever can provide it, if not from within the system then from outside.
Unless the military administrative system has changed on this point, a suicidal military person, or a suicidal member of his or her family who seeks help from within the system, believes that a record of the contact will be made. The 'record' transforms to stigma and a potential threat to present job and future career. 'Records,' more often than not, compel the person in a suicidal crisis to look elsewhere. Elsewhere includes the adjacent civilian community's crisis intervention resources, specifically, the suicide prevention telephone hotline where callers need not provide identification - they're as safe from being identified as anywhere they can be under their circumstances. The hotline worker does what can be accomplished quickly to keep the caller from slipping deeper into crisis and acting out a threat to suicide. They listen, offer nonjudgmental feedback, and together with the caller, explore options.
Almost invariably, when a civilian community crisis worker (telephone hotline or face-to-face) needs information on options unique to military life to help a suicidal military member or someone in his or her immediate family, the source is the nearest base's health care, personnel, or other administrative functions. Very often, when contacts with base officials occur and the worker has the name of a suicidal caller, confidentiality is literally vital; being tagged in the base's records as someone who phoned an off-base crisis center carries almost certain exposure to military authority, and might well add the final straw.
If it's accepted that the military base and its adjacent civilian community should cooperate in suicide intervention, then the civilian and military agencies need mutually accepted procedures to do the job. If a community's crisis resource has one set of procedures for cooperation from the Navy, another for the Marine Corps, and still others for the Army and the Air Force, confusion mounts and collaboration suffers. This is especially true when the situation is tight and there isn't much time to keep a suicide threat from becoming an act. To the telephone hotline worker in suicide prevention center it makes no difference whatsoever if the person on the other end of the line is a soldier, sailor, airman, marine - or civilian. On the other side of the scale, however, is the we-take-care-of-our-own turf, and that, to the suicidal person, is meaningless.
I hoped that, by now, military bases would have been further along in collaborating with adjacent civilian suicide prevention resources and that such teamwork would be reflected in base and community media. How else would a military person or a member of his or her family on the edge of a life-death decision for themselves know where to go or whom to phone, especially where their privacy and confidentiality would be respected - if they decided to take a chance to continue living? Is a city telephone directory listing for the local crisis center enough?
Agreements, procedures and contact points for military-civilian teamwork in suicide prevention deserve to begin on a county, metropolitan, or other regional basis, rather than in single-base to community understandings, especially where the area has bases representing different services. When all the services in an area have maximum understanding among themselves about collaborating with community suicide intervention resources, it will optimize the support that they and their people as individuals can ask for from that resource, and the help that the hotline worker can offer to them. In effect, when a civilian suicide hotline has been appealed to for help by a military member/family member, the crisis worker will have clearly written, mutually agreed upon procedures for communications and actions with each base in the area. All concerned will have been trained, tested, and know to the greatest degree possible who is going to do what. With present computer networking capabilities the resources indices in such guides can be readily maintained current and widely disseminated throughout a region and on and among military installations.
The opinions in this letter are my own, and are based on my experiences as a civilian IG-analyst and suicide prevention hotline volunteer in the late '60s/early 70s (and hassling the bureaucracy on this issue into the mid-80s.) I am not now associated with any mental health profession or military organization-strictly a private citizen. It may be that what I've suggested already exists or, conversely, that it isn't justified; I don't know, but I would be remiss not to present my views for your consideration.
Respectfully,
s/Moldeven
~
Reply
(From) Office of the Secretary of Defense
Washington D. C. 20301
(Force Management and Personnel)
1 June 1993
(To) Mr. Meyer Moldeven
Thank you for your letter of April 26, 1993 to Mr. Les Aspin, regarding suicide prevention programs in the Department of Defense.
Your letter prompted a review of policy in the Department of Defense on suicide prevention. The Department of Defense does not address suicide prevention in its directive on Health Promotion. That directive was published March 11, 1986, and is in need of revision. The Department is reviewing and revising that directive and a suicide prevention section will be added. We will address in the development of that section the issues you raised in your letter to Mr. Aspin.
Thank you for your interest and continued concern in this important mental health area.
S/Nicolai Timenes, Jr.
Principal Director
(Military Manpower and Personnel Policy)
(added, hand-written: 'Thanks!')
~~~~~
REFERENCES
1. Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act introduced for stronger suicide prevention programs in the DoD.
http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/rec
Quoted, first 2 paragraphs: 'With new reports this week showing a steady rise in U.S. Army suicides among its active-duty personnel since the invasion of Iraq, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and several of his colleagues introduced a bill that would direct the Department of Defense to enhance its suicide-prevention programs. The legislation, Webb said, 'places greater emphasis on the well-being and welfare of our troops.'
'The 'Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act' mandates an evaluation and enhancement of the military’s suicide prevention programs to ensure that they address the combat stress faced by troops today. The bill also establishes an outreach campaign to soldiers and families to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems and to encourage those needing help to seek it.
~~~
2. Leaders Guide for Managing Marines in Distress
http://www.usmc-mccs.org/leadersguide/E
Excerpt: Why Marines May Not Seek Help
• Fear that seeking help will negatively impact their careers.
• Fear of commander having complete access to mental health records.
• Belief that mental health information is entered into their military record.
• A command climate that discourages getting help.
Marines may be reluctant to seek help because of fears that such help will negatively impact their careers. Unfortunately, this often means a Marine in distress delays seeking help until the problem becomes so big that it affects their behavior both on and off work until, ultimately, they begin to collect Page 11 counseling entries, Letters of Reprimand, and NJPs. The consequence of waiting too long to seek help is what damages their career. Getting help early does not. As leaders, you must combat the myth that seeking help early damages careers.
Another fear Marines have is that their Commander will have complete access to their mental health records. In fact, however, for most of those who self-refer to Mental Health, confidentiality is maintained. In cases where information is released, the cases either involve mandatory reporting or the unit leadership was solicited to be a resource for the member (with the Marine's consent).
Some Marines incorrectly believe mental health information is entered into their Military Record. Mental health clinical information is recorded in the outpatient medical record and the appropriate mental health file but not the Military Record unless they are found unfit or unsuitable for duty.
~~~
3. First paragraph in an article ' Preventing Suicide' in the National Journal: Formulating a Plan' at:
http://www.preventsuicide.net/arti
Formulating a plan. When Lt. Gen. Charles “Chip” Roadman II convened a diverse team of military and civilian experts in summer 1996 to consider how to reduce skyrocketing suicide rates in the U.S. Air Force, he never imagined the program they would develop could have such prominent and far-reaching effects.
With that program - the first of its kind to suggest that suicide is a preventable public health problem - in place service-wide, USAF rates plummeted to just 2.2/100,000 in the first eight months of 1999. Quite a decrease from a high of 16.4/100,000 in 1994.
David Litts, O.D., Colonel, USAF, was a member of the team and remembers well June and July of 1996 when he and about 75 others gathered to consider how best to attack soaring suicide rates in the Air Force.
~~
4. (CNN Report: Excerpt) Pentagon: Military's mental health care needs help
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/15/milita
• A new report says the military is unable to provide adequate psychological care
• Insufficient funding, prejudices toward mental illness are part of the problem
• Long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have made mental health a major issue
(CNN) -- A Pentagon report released Friday says the military's mental health services need some serious therapy.
'The military health system lacks the fiscal resources and the fully trained personnel to fulfill its mission to support psychological health in peacetime or fulfill the enhanced requirements imposed during times of conflict,' according to 'An Achievable Vision,' a report from the Pentagon's Task Force on Mental Health.
The task force members reviewed information in public testimony from 'experts and advocates' and people at military installations across the world.
Here are some of the findings.
'A stigma attached to mental health problems among service members 'remains pervasive and often prevents service members from seeking needed care.'
'Existing processes for psychological assessment are insufficient to overcome the stigma inherent in seeking mental health services.'
'Mental health professionals are not sufficiently accessible to service members.'
'Leaders, family members, and medical personnel are insufficiently trained in matters relating to psychological health.'
'Some Department of Defense policies, including those related to command notification or self-disclosure of psychological health issues, are overly conservative.'
'Significant gaps in the continuum of care for psychological health remain, specifically related to which services are offered, where services are offered, and who receives services.'
'Family members have difficulty obtaining adequate mental health treatment.'
The military lacks 'enough fiscal or personnel resources to adequately support' psychological help of service members and their families.
Military treatment facilities don't 'provide a full continuum of psychological health care services for active duty service members and their families.'
The number of active duty mental health professionals is insufficient and likely to decrease without substantial intervention.
The network benefit addressing psychological health 'is hindered by fragmented rules and policies, inadequate oversight, and insufficient reimbursement.'
The task force wants to correct these deficiencies by working to dispel biases against mental health care, making professionals accessible and embedding 'psychological health training throughout military life.'
It calls for changing 'policies to reflect current knowledge about psychological health, making 'psychological assessment procedures an effective, efficient, and normal part of military life,' and ensuring that the military health network's provisions 'fulfill beneficiaries' mental health needs.'
With U.S. troops fighting long, grueling wars this decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health has emerged as a major issue.
A Pentagon survey last month that assessed the mental health of troops in Iraq found one-third of soldiers and Marines in high levels of combat report anxiety, depression and acute stress.
According to that report, soldiers who were deployed more than six months or multiple times were more likely to screen positive for a mental health issue.
~~
5. Where There's Hope, There's Help
The National Mental Health Awareness Campaign at
http://www.nostigma.org/
…is a nationwide nonpartisan public education campaign launched as part of the 1999 White House Conference on Mental Health organized by Tipper Gore. The Campaign's aim is to accomplish its mission by utilizing three programs; youth outreach, Mental Health Media Partnership, and Roundtable discussions on various topics.
What is Stigma?
Stigma goes far beyond the misuse of words and information, it is about disrespect. Stigma is commonly defined as the use of stereotypes and labels when describing someone. Stereotypes are often attached to people who are suffering from a mental illness. The simple fact is that no one fully understands how the brain works and why, at times, it works differently in different people. Our society tends to not give the same acceptance to brain disorders as we do to other organ disorders, say, heart trouble. The stigma surrounding these misunderstandings can limit opportunities, it can stand in the way of a new job, it can increase feelings of loneliness, and it can cause many other unfortunate outcomes. Stigma must, and can, be exposed and overcome. Everyone must know that it is not their fault and that it is OK to ask for help.
What can you do?
If you know someone that seems extremely upset, maybe someone who displays extreme mood changes, or maybe even you yourself feel emotionally out of place at times ... the time is now to act, help, assist, notify, inform and get better. You just might be surprised on how much you can accomplish through understanding, hope, and friendship.
~~
6. Army Releases Suicide Data, Promotes Prevention Programs
http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/news/r
~~
7. Mental Health Consumers' Experience of Stigma (by Otto K Wahl) at:
http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjour
~~~~~
8. 'Hearing' disabilities (This Reference added as relevant to the mental health and well-being of the troops and their families.)
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_i
Troops Return with Alarming Rates of Hearing Loss. Noise-induced hearing loss is on the rise among U.S. servicemen and women ...
(First two paragraphs) quote:
Troops Return with Alarming Rates of Hearing Loss
As printed in Hearing Health, volume 20:3, Fall 2004
'War is obviously a highly hazardous endeavor for military personnel. And although weapons that pose the greatest hazards change over time, one thing remains the same: war is dangerously loud.
'The headline of this article undoubtedly applied to any number of past conflicts. It certainly did when hundreds of thousands of Americans returned from World War II. In fact, their need for hearing help contributed to the emergence of audiology as a new field of healthcare. It should be a matter of great national concern, however, that the current situation is so severe despite six decades of advances in methods of hearing conservation.'
Book (title) 'Noise And Military Service: Implications For Hearing Loss And Tinnitus'
Larry E. Humes, Lois M. Joellenbeck, and Jane S. Durch, Editors, Committee on Noise-Induced Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Associated with Military Service from World War II to the Present. 338 pages, 6 x 9, 2005, National Academies Press.
Context
The Institute of Medicine carried out a study mandated by Congress and sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide an assessment of several issues related to noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus associated with service in the Armed Forces since World War II. The resulting book, Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, presents findings on the presence of hazardous noise in military settings, levels of noise exposure necessary to cause hearing loss or tinnitus, risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus, the timing of the effects of noise exposure on hearing, and the adequacy of military hearing conservation programs and audiometric testing. The book stresses the importance of conducting hearing tests (audiograms) at the beginning and end of military service for all military personnel and recommends several steps aimed at improving the military services prevention of and surveillance for hearing loss and tinnitus. The book also identifies research needs, emphasizing topics specifically related to military service.
(The Website Home Page for this book, under the heading 'Free Resources' includes the note: 'Full Text. Jump to this book's table of contents to begin reading online for free. Related Items'
~~~~~
9. Bush signs bill boosting veterans mental illness screening and treating
http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2
~~~~~
10. Suicide Prevention Programs (List)
http://usmilitary.about.com/sitese
~~~~~
11. Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery, RAND Corporation, 2008. (Section on 'Suicide' begins on page 128 of Report's text.)
http://www.rand.org/multi/military/
The RAND Corporation conducted a comprehensive study of the mental health and cognitive needs of U.S. service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, the costs associated with mental health and cognitive conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and traumatic brain injury, and the care systems available to deliver treatment. The study is the first of its kind to consider mental health and cognitive problems associated with deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq from a broad societal perspective.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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TIPS ON TALKING TO THE HARD-OF-HEARING (HOH)
Jul. 25th, 2008 | 10:40 am
Posted July 25, 2008
Meyer Moldeven
'Being blind takes away things; being deaf takes away people.' (Attributed to Helen Keller)
~~~
NOTES:
Item 28 of this list. Book, Title: 'Noise And Military Service: Implications For Hearing Loss And Tinnitus' may interest active and former members of the U. S. Armed Forces and their families.
Item 29 of this list: The Healthy People 2010 Midcourse Review on Vision and Hearing includes several paragraphs re objectives, issues, progress, and status toward eliminating 'hearing' health disparities. Parents, especially of children with 'hearing' disabilities may be interested this checking section for potentially useful information.
We learn from each other. Your 'tips' and experiences on talking and interacting with the hoh are invited and will be appreciated by other readers. Please add them to the 'Leave a comment' space at the end of this journal item. They will be considered for inclusion.
~~~
Preface
Several years ago, prompted by a hearing-disabled public school teacher and professional in guiding and educating hard-of-hearing children, I compiled a list of 'tips' for consideration by 'normal' hearing persons who talk to or otherwise interact with the hoh. I posted the list online to various Internet forums, lists and message boards and occasionally updated the list with input from readers. I am an elderly hearing-disabled layperson and post these informal 'tips' and relevant content as FYI only. These 'tips' are NOT substitutes for or intended to be authoritative advice, procedures, techniques, treatment, or for any professional healthcare purpose. This list is posted online and otherwise disseminated as public service and content, unless specifically tagged accordingly, is in the 'public domain.'
Introduction
'Hearing loss' affects people of all ages. Presbycusis, the loss of hearing associated with aging, affects about 30 percent of adults aged 65 years and older. About half of the population over age 75 years has a significant hearing loss. As the population ages and lives longer, these numbers are increasing. Only about one-fourth of those who could benefit from a hearing aid actually use one.
These tips are based on suggestions from many sources: speech therapists, teachers of hearing-disabled children, professionals in audiology, geriatrics and gerontology, caregivers, and from the hearing-disabled themselves and their families.
Please disseminate further. Additional 'tips,' constructive comments, practices and useful anecdotes, vignettes consistent with the stated intent evident in the text are appreciated provided that they are freely offered and identified by the sender as 'public domain' (not copyrighted or otherwise restricted as to their general distribution.) Please share them with all of us in the 'Comments' space in this posting; they will also be considered for including in the next update to the list.
Especially needed for this list is input from teachers, caregivers, people in industry, commerce, law enforcement, and healthcare professionals and their staff who, as normal requirements of their jobs, communicate orally with hearing-disabled customers, clients, patients, victims and others as individuals, in groups, or who just happen to be present in a general audience and want/need to 'communicate' with another human being at the lectern.
Scope
The population of 'older adults' is increasing across the world, and age-related hearing disability is common. The hoh and deaf, however, affect all ages and both genders, and children too, everywhere. The public's need for better means to communicate within and among families, friends, students of all ages and their teachers, and professionals in health and patient-care, academia, the arts, and commerce will accordingly demand more attention. It's important for the 'normal-hearing' person to practice the best possible oral and other forms of one-to-one and group communications with the hoh.
United States Government statistics estimate 28 million people - about 10 percent of the U.S. population - are deaf or hoh of which, according to Healthy People 2010, about 1,500,000 victims, aged 3 years or older, are deaf in both ears. The earlier issue of Healthy People (HP2000) stated: '... patient and family interpersonal communication training, and environmental structuring can help to enhance the ... quality of life for the hearing-impaired....' Being aware that 'unintended consequences' on the hoh such as social isolation, frustration, misunderstandings, and other adverse emotional and mental health effects increase pressures on both the hoh and the speaker. That's where disseminating, teaching and applying 'tips' such as those listed here come in.
Tips
1. Whenever possible, face the hoh person directly, and on the same level. Your speech will be more easily understood when you are not eating, chewing, smoking, mumbling, or interacting with others distant or in another room.
2. A medical/industrial face mask or shield significantly muffles the speech of a health care professional or other person who needs to communicate with a hoh client/patient in the course of a procedure, industrial/commercial/management conversation, or a social interaction, even if the hoh listener is wearing hearing aids. If possible, slow your speech down and enunciate with more care than usual. Usually, your normal tone and the sound level of your voice will suffice if you slow down. A brief pause between sentences will help the hoh listener to understand. Should the listener ask you to repeat, don't show impatience; the hoh person may have a problem dealing with it along with their mounting frustration in not being able to understand you.
Specific 'oral' instructions, recommendations, etc., by a healthcare professional to an hoh, ailing, elderly, and/or confused patient in the course of, or concluded examination/procedure are, quite often, not adequately recollected afterward by the patient and his/her accompanying companion. A hand-scribed checklist to remind the patient/family what he/she/they should do or not do, also, should specified contingencies occur, will help the hoh patient, and his/her family considerably.
3. Reduce background noises when carrying on conversations -- turn down or turn off the radio, TV, or other noise-generating devices.
4. Keep your hands away from your face while talking. Don't shout; speak slowly and distinctly. Transmissions of voices via hearing aids often arrive garbled at their destination in the brain. Expect to be asked to repeat your message.
5. If it's difficult for a person to understand, find another way of saying the same thing, rather than repeating the original words; move to a quieter location.
6. Recognize that hoh people hear and understand less well when they are tired or ill.
7. Never talk from another room. Be sure to get the attention of the person to whom you will speak before you start talking.
8. Speak in a normal fashion without shouting. If practical, see to it that a light is not shining directly into the eyes of the hoh person.
(The following comments were received via online community discussion groups, message boards and emails.)
9. I teach nursing assistant training at a long-term care facility. Needless to say, we have a number of residents whose hearing is impaired. Add these to your suggestions, especially if you are a healthcare provider or caregiver:
a. A woman's voice is often harder to hear than a man's, because of the pitch. Make a conscious effort to lower the pitch of your voice if you are a female.
b. Speak slowly and clearly.
c. If the person wears a hearing aid, make sure that it has batteries that work, that it's turned 'on' and is clean and free from earwax.
d. If you know (or if it becomes evident) from which side the person hears best, talk to that side.
10. (There were several opinions/practices on the preceding item 9. (described in the following sub-paragraphs and in Item 26):
a. It is better to speak directly face-to-face. Face-to-face communication in situations where relatively diffuse lighting is adequate and lights the speaker's face helps the hearing-impaired listener to observe the speaker's facial expressions, as well as lip movements.
b. Individuals with hearing impairment can also benefit from seating themselves at a table where they can best see all parties (e.g. the end of a rectangular table). Asking people to let you know beforehand when they are going to change the subject of conversation can also be helpful, as it can often prevent an embarrassing error.
c. Often, a person who is hoh has a 'good' or 'better' side -- right or left -- ask him or her if they do. If they indicate a preference, direct your remarks to the 'good' side or face-to-face, as they wish.
d. See that the light is not shining in the eyes of the hoh person... change position so that you are not standing in front of a light source such as a window, which puts your face in silhouette and makes it hard to speech read.
e. Avoid abrupt changes of subject or interjecting small talk into your conversation, as your hoh listener will be using context intensely to understand what you are saying.
f. If the hoh person wears an aid, trying raising the pitch of your voice just slightly. If louder doesn't help, try lowering the pitch of your voice.
g. If all else fails, rephrase or try a relative, whose voice will be familiar to the hoh-er.
h. Don't talk too fast.
i. Pronounce words clearly. If the hearing-impaired person has difficulty with letters and numbers say: M as in Mary, 2 as in twins, B as in Boy, and each number separately: five six instead of fifty-six; because m, n and 2, 3, 56, 66 and b, c, d, e, t and v sound alike.
j. Keep a note pad handy and write your words and show them if you have to -- just don't walk away leaving the hearing-impaired puzzling over what you said and thinking that you just don't care.
k. Be patient.
(More comments from families and friends of the hoh and from the hoh themselves)
11. I have been using your list for my beginning-nursing students -- for about three years. It is a wonderful asset. Besides my dealings with patients, I have a lived experience. My nephew (now in his mid twenties) is hoh since birth, but has partial hearing with hearing aids. His steady girlfriend is also hoh but has partial hearing with cochlear implants. I have found that it is very important to decrease the length of sentences. One can use the same vocabulary, etc., but avoid excessive strings of words. I also watch my hand movements. I tend to talk with my hands and when my nephew was very young and learning to talk, he would watch my face for cues. One day he told me he did not know whether 'to watch my face or watch my hands.'
12. I'm a hearing-disabled senior citizen who had a heart attack some years ago that required 'by-pass' surgery. Subsequent follow-up monitoring and treatment consisted of routine follow-up by my cardiologist that included periodic tests in a clinic's radiology lab and heart, lung and blood department. At both locations the administrative staffs and the nurses and technicians were always courteous, considerate and professional. No difficulty there. Where I invariably did experience considerable difficulty was in hearing and understanding what staff, technicians and physicians were saying to me.
At the outset of an exam or test I always pointed to my hearing aids and told those attending that I was hoh. I assumed that by noting this those attending would keep in mind when they asked questions of me or gave me information and instructions during the exam and test. Yet, during the exam or test, invariably, when any one of them looked directly at me and spoke - and from their expressions it was clear that they were addressing me - I did not grasp their 'words' or their speech came through garbled. The problem was not with the hearing aids; I usually installed new batteries before such visits and double-checked that they were 'on' well before any oral exchanges were to take place.
I believe that what likely happened was that the staff and technicians (and physicians) did take note of my hearing aids. They adjusted their speech patterns accordingly, then, concentrating on their work they drifted back into their normal manner of speaking. Consequently, I often missed much of what was being directed at me. If I was certain that I had missed something I usually brought myself to ask a speaker to 'please repeat that.' More often, embarrassed, I relied on context.
I suggest that the 'questionnaire' that each patient usually completes in a doctor's outer office or lobby before entering the examination room, include a prominent space with the question: 'Are you hoh or deaf?' [Calling for a yes-no entry by the patient.] This should alert all those that review the form's entries that the patient has a hearing problem, and remind them to communicate accordingly. (I can't think of any reason why a patient can't just add this information on his/her own to the questionnaire.)
I also suggest consideration be given by the AMA, the APA, and other healthcare oversight entities that a patient's medical record or folder (especially for hospitalization) have a color-coded label affixed to signify that the patient is deaf, hoh, or otherwise hearing-disabled. The implications of disabled hearing are far too serious in healthcare matters where a patient's full understanding of his/her doctor's diagnosis, prognosis and relevant treatments is literally vital, and all too often can involve life-death decisions. Physician and staff's conscientious responsiveness to a patient's hearing-disability and consequent comprehension limitations deserve to be an ethical, if not a legal responsibility.
13. As a long time health care professional (dietitian) that has had hearing aids for 25 years, I am on both sides of the problem. I work in long-term care and notice that the staff tends to repeat themselves when a resident doesn't hear - they also raise their voices. If the resident still doesn't hear, they rephrase the question so different sounds are used. In my case, this raising of the voice works as my hearing loss is opposite of most people in that I can hear high frequencies better than the low ones. In fact, I have more trouble hearing the residents and have to ask them to repeat their comments. (I have had the aids adjusted and it doesn't improve the situation) What bothers me is when they raise their voice and it sounds like an angry voice rather than a questioning or commenting voice. This is something health care professionals need to work on.
14. I have very good hearing but work with a person who not only mumbles but also walks away as he is talking to you. I think he is so preoccupied with what he is thinking about that he thinks everyone will follow him as he goes to whatever he intends doing next.
15. I know exactly what you mean! I've had that problem all my life. I never considered myself 'handicapped' or ’disabled' but other people sure made it hard for me to 'fit in.' I, too, avoided joining clubs and going to meetings because of the difficulty. That is the problem with deafness, it is so isolating.
16. I do agree that other people often just don't think about the hoh. I have a so-called friend who, when I once told her that her extra low voice is hard on me, rolled her eyes to heaven and sighed. I almost told her to go to hell. That's not friendship, in my opinion.
I once asked a speaker to raise his voice a little. He looked at me with disdain and said for me just to move up to the first row. His voice almost got lower after that.
17. I have one relatively dead ear (left) and one relatively good ear -- have a fairly adequate hearing aid in right ear, nothing in left ear (because no use) -- I have discovered that I lip read a lot -- which means that if you talk to a hoh person, face them. If you are around the corner, or you turn away, you become much harder to understand. Also, do not hesitate to let people know hearing is a problem. I have a friend who is too proud to say, 'please repeat' or 'I missed your last remark' etc. There are a few controlling, slightly sadistic folks who won't speak up regardless of whether you ask them to. Not much you can do about them. But they are far and few between. On the telephone I often have to ask people to talk a bit more slowly and usually get prompt and satisfactory results.
18. In all fairness, I don't believe people are sadistic; they just do not relate to hearing problems. They often feel 'put upon' if they are expected to accommodate our handicap. I have an audiologist who turns and walks away from me as he is giving me instructions. I've asked him repeatedly to face me as he speaks, but he forgets. In small meetings, I may ask a speaker to 'speak up' and they do - for a few seconds - and then fall back into their normal tones. Some, I hear perfectly well and others, not at all. Hearing aids are not for everyone I've learned to my dismay. For me, they make speech louder, but not clearer.
19. I can hear some people perfectly well, and not others. What is unbelievable is that my ear doctor will turn and walk away while talking to me! I've told him repeatedly that I cannot understand him unless he faces me when he speaks. People take note of that when you first mention it, and moments later, they forget. It has come to a point that I avoid meetings, even of small groups. If I ask the speaker to 'speak up,' they do so, but only for a moment. Unfortunately, hearing aids have not resolved my problem.
20. Had an interesting work experience. Many years ago [pre-computer era], I taught at The New York School of Printing in NYC, a boys' vocational high school. Many deaf and 'hearing impaired' boys were channeled there, because printing presses in those days made a huge noise. I taught 11th grade English, and I was told that all I had to do was be sure to face those students. They did just as well as the rest of the class.
A dear friend of mine is blind - she holds a regular, full-time job, is married, cooks, plays 'beep' ball [noisy version of baseball], goes to Marlin games, rides a tandem bike with her husband, 'watches' movies, and has the most marvelous guide dog in the world. She prefers the word 'blind.' She says, 'I'm not visually-impaired - I'm blind!'
21. Appreciated your list of suggestions when talking to the hard of hearing. My mother, in her 80's is extremely hard of hearing. We've all gotten used to it, but occasionally it creates peculiar situations when she answers a question different from the one you asked because she only gets 3 or 4 words in the sentence and guesses at whatever else was said. For a while, my father thought she was in early stages of Alzheimer's because she gave these screwy responses. Believe me, we were all happy to find out that her non-sequiters were the result of hearing loss. So maybe you should remind people that the hearing-impaired may appear senile because they are only getting part of what is said and responding as best they can without realizing the response may be inappropriate.
I love it when my kids come back from visiting my parents. They plant themselves directly in front of me and speak distinctly and slowly and they never call to me from another room. Unfortunately the effect wears off after half a day.
22. As someone who was born with only 50% hearing and down to 20/30, I know the suggestions you've posted will be most helpful to everyone with a hearing loss.
The 'keep hands away from mouth' part really helps if the hoh person is a lip-reader also. I found dangling cigarettes, gum chewing, and mumbling the hardest to 'read.'
I hope with education, people will begin to be less rude to the hearing-impaired. I had a supervisor once who would turn her back on me because she didn't like me 'looking at her' when she talked. She also wore braces and it was extremely difficult to understand her.
Unfortunately, some people still equate 'deaf' with 'dumb.' Hearing- impaired may have difficulty communicating but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with their ability to think. Don't leave them thinking you lack manners and education.
23. My niece lost her hearing at the age of 10. They never determined why it happened. The toughest thing for me was to tell her that I didn't understand what she was saying... so I stopped. Then one day my brother asked if I was upset with her. Of course I said 'no'. Then he told me that it hurt her when I didn't ask her to repeat herself until I understood. We began to talk and when we had difficulty with each other, would reach for pencil and pad. It became a game! We would spend more time working to understand because to write it down meant we hadn't yet succeeded to complete the bridge. Today, we still have to ask each other to repeat, but never have to reach for a pencil. She is the mother of two older teenagers, is employed at the University of -- Library and is an avid cyclist.... far from being 'Dumb'.
24. The one time I purchased a hearing aid, I thought it was necessary to put up with discomfort in order to get used to it. Returned from a trip with a badly infected ear caused by a 'spur' on the plastic. Your friends may be hypersensitive to the material that the hearing aids are made from - let them know. Ear doctor was concerned that I had not consulted him before purchase. He said a hearing aid would make things sound louder, but not clearer because of my type of hearing loss.
25. I have three lady friends that refuse to wear their hearing aids. Their ears get red and swollen when they wear them and I'm tired of having to talk so loud. Does anybody know what the aids could be coated with to stop this irritation to their ears? I use clear nail polish on my glasses and watch to keep them so I can wear them, but the hearing aids are made of different material and I don't want to make their ears worse.
26. I remember always wanting to sit to the right side of the class, from where I was sitting facing the teacher. I never really thought about why I always preferred that site. I didn't do so great in class when I was placed on the left side of the classroom or put near the back. I got too distracted when I sat in back - I obviously needed to pay attention to hear what was being said. Visual distractions threw me then, as they do now!
27. Technically, hearing loss is asymmetrical, something I learned on a listserv this spring. This means loss in both of my son's ears, but one different from the other. The audiologist has always called it unilateral loss, thus minimizing the impact of the loss in his 'good' ear, the left ear. We always sit to his left when we hold him, read to him or do anything with him. When he had access to his ALD (assistive listening device) at home, it didn't matter which side we sat on. However, he just can't understand what we say if we're on his right. I'm so used to being careful about sitting on his left that when I sit next to anyone I'm already checking which side of them I'm sitting on.
When I call to him I always tell him the room that I'm in, not just say, 'I'm here!' In school, we wanted a C-shaped arrangement with (him) sitting so that he could lip-read the kids. They instead grouped the tables into four and placed them throughout the room. The teacher is supposed to use a conference mic but I'm starting to suspect she doesn't. (He) does say he can hear the children.... but hearing and truly understanding are often different. Might be part of the LaLaLand syndrome.
He hears but doesn't always understand. He does automatically turn his good ear to people now and says 'What...' Very typical of the image you have of a deaf old codger... except he's a little guy. It's good though because finally he's advocating for himself and starting to let the world know he doesn't understand. With all of his 'whats' it's a lot harder for the world to miss his hearing issues.
~~~~
The following may interest active and former members of the U. S. Armed Forces and their families.
28. Noise And Military Service: Implications For Hearing Loss And Tinnitus
Larry E. Humes, Lois M. Joellenbeck, and Jane S. Durch, Editors, Committee on Noise-Induced Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Associated with Military Service from World War II to the Present. 338 pages, 6 x 9, 2005, National Academies Press.
The publisher's website at:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11443.ht
contains the following note:
"Jump to this book's table of contents to begin reading online for free."
Also, the website has a link providing for:
The book's Executive Summary (PDF) to be FREELY downloaded at:
http://newton.nap.edu/execsumm_pdf/1144
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The Institute of Medicine carried out a study mandated by Congress and sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide an assessment of several issues related to noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus associated with service in the Armed Forces since World War II. The resulting book, Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, presents findings on the presence of hazardous noise in military settings, levels of noise exposure necessary to cause hearing loss or tinnitus, risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus, the timing of the effects of noise exposure on hearing, and the adequacy of military hearing conservation programs and audiometric testing. The book stresses the importance of conducting hearing tests (audiograms) at the beginning and end of military service for all military personnel and recommends several steps aimed at improving the military services prevention of and surveillance for hearing loss and tinnitus. The book also identifies research needs, emphasizing topics specifically related to military service.
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29. HEARING ISSUES AND TRENDS
(Source: Healthy People 2010 Report: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services)
An estimated 28 million people in the United States are deaf or hard of hearing. Some 1,465,000 individuals aged 3 years or older are deaf in both ears. Deafness or hearing impairment may be caused by genetic factors, noise or trauma, sensitivity to certain drugs or medications, and viral or bacterial infections.
Language is the set of rules that allow for the sharing of thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Speaking is one way that language can be expressed. Language also is expressed in writing or through sign language by some groups of individuals. In some cases, language can be expressed in additional ways by people who have neurological disorders. The most intensive period for development of language, either spoken or signed, is during the first 3 years of life. This is the period when the brain is developing and maturing.
The skills associated with effective acquisition of language, either speech or sign, depend on exposure to, and manipulation of, these communication tools. Early identification of deafness or hearing loss is a critical factor in preventing or ameliorating language delay or disorder in children who are deaf or hard of hearing, allowing appropriate intervention or rehabilitation to begin while the developing brain is ready. Early identification and intervention have lifelong implications for the child's understanding and use of language.
The standard estimate of congenital hearing loss (1 in 1,000 live births) appears to underestimate actual congenital hearing loss as reported in data from States with universal newborn screening programs. Estimates based on emerging data place the number at 2 to 3 per 1,000 live births. These data do not include children who are born with normal hearing but have late-onset or progressive hearing loss. Hearing loss often is sufficient to prevent the spontaneous development of spoken language.
More than 50 percent of childhood hearing impairments are believed to be of genetic origin. Earliest possible identification of infant hearing loss has been endorsed widely as critical for the developing child. Minimal hearing loss also is an important factor in school success and psychosocial development.
Estimates for the average age of diagnosis of hearing loss in infants and children range from 14 months to around 3 years. This delay of diagnosis is significant in terms of time lost for rehabilitation and time lost during unique opportunities provided by brain development in the infant and young child for language acquisition, spoken or signed. Nearly 15 percent of children have a low-frequency or high-frequency hearing loss.
Strategies for intervention or rehabilitation depend on the kind of hearing loss, age of onset, services available, and family preferences. Strategies include hearing aids, augmentative and assistive devices, oral-auditory instruction, sign language instruction, interpreter services, cued speech, cochlear implant, or combinations of these devices and strategies.
More than 300 inherited syndromes involve hearing impairment. Hereditary hearing loss can be either syndromic (accompanied by other characteristics, such as visual impairment) or nonsyndromic (where hearing loss is the only identifiable characteristic). Not all hereditary hearing loss is present at birth. Some hereditary hearing loss may be progressive or may appear later in childhood or adulthood as late-onset hearing impairment or deafness.
One cause of late-onset hearing loss is otosclerosis. Otosclerosis, an abnormal growth of bone in the middle ear, results in gradual loss of hearing and affects 1 out of 100 adults in the U.S. population. Another form of hearing loss is Meniere's disease, which causes bilateral, often fluctuating, hearing loss in 20 to 40 percent of cases, usually in conjunction with balance disorder and tinnitus.
Otitis media, or middle ear infection, accounts for 24.5 million visits to doctors' offices and is the most frequent reason cited for taking children to the emergency department. Health care costs for otitis media in the United States have been reported to be $3 billion to $5 billion per year. Otitis media often occurs in repeated bouts, causing periods of hearing loss that can affect children during the critical time for language and speech acquisition and hamper children in a variety of learning environments.
Approximately 10 million persons in the United States have permanent, irreversible hearing loss from noise or trauma. Additionally, 30 million people are estimated to be exposed to injurious levels of noise each day. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most common occupational disease and the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury.
In industry-specific studies, 44 percent of carpenters and 48 percent of plumbers reported they had a perceived hearing loss. Ninety percent of coal miners are estimated to have a hearing impairment by age 52 years, and 70 percent of male metal and nonmetal miners will experience a hearing impairment by age 60 years.
Data indicate that people are losing hearing earlier in life and that men are more frequently affected in the 35- to 60-year-old age group. Noise-induced hearing loss can be the result of a traumatic, sudden level of impulse noise, such as an explosion, that can leave an individual immediately and permanently deafened; the result of continuing exposure to high levels of sound in the workplace or in recreational settings; the consequence of years of exposure causing subtle, progressive damage; or exacerbated due to individual vulnerability to noise. Noise-induced hearing loss is related to noise level, proximity to the harmful sound, time of exposure, and individual susceptibility. Many of these causes can be controlled by prevention. Prevention of noise-induced hearing loss is necessary for people both on and off the job.
DISPARITIES
The work environment of the 21st century will require intense use of communication and information skills and technologies. The individual who has a communication disability, disorder, or difference may be at a disadvantage.
Data show that students with disabilities, including hearing impairment and deafness, are disproportionately disadvantaged. The average reading level for deaf persons aged 18 years is estimated at the fourth grade. Early intervention for language acquisition, spoken or signed, can improve later ability to use language. Hearing impairments also are a major barrier to health care access and information.
Older people also are a major concern in terms of hearing health disparity. Presbycusis, the loss of hearing associated with aging, affects about 30 percent of adults who are aged 65 years and older. About half of the population over age 75 years has a significant hearing loss. As the population ages and lives longer, these numbers are increasing. Only about one-fourth of those who could benefit from a hearing aid actually use one. More than 8 percent of the population aged 70 years and older report both hearing and vision impairment. With the exception of increased hearing loss in men, there are no currently available data on these disparities.
OPPORTUNITIES
Two activities have yielded opportunity for early identification and intervention for infants who are born deaf or with hearing impairments. As of 1999, 20 States had laws requiring hearing screening in the newborn nursery. Early identification allows for language acquisition, either spoken or signed, during the critical time period when the child is developing communication skills. Research in the field of molecular genetics has identified genes that contribute to hereditary hearing impairment. The potential exists for early identification and intervention for hearing impairment. Identifying individuals who may experience late-onset or progressive hearing loss provides time to make the appropriate treatment or rehabilitation options available.
Public education can promote hearing health and behavior to reduce noise-induced hearing loss, which is a fully preventable condition. An education effort, WISE EARS!, has been launched by a coalition of government agencies headed by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They have joined with State agencies; some 70 public interest, advocacy, and patient organizations; businesses; industries; and unions as well as health professional organizations in a national effort to educate the public about ear defense.
The education effort focuses both on the public, with special emphasis on children, and on the workforce and has important World Wide Web-based components. A further opportunity exists with noise-induced hearing loss prevention. Tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or roaring in the ears, is a symptom that accompanies many forms of hearing loss and can be debilitating. Data indicate that tinnitus affects almost 15 percent of adults aged 45 years and older. Because tinnitus often is associated with preventable noise-induced hearing loss, hearing protection is key to reducing one important cause of tinnitus.
Assistive technologies are providing additional strategies for individuals with disabilities. For individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, improved technologies will facilitate their ability to have an equal opportunity in the workplace and in society. Early identification for improved intervention strategies, prevention of noise-induced hearing loss through health education, and the development of innovations in assistive technology could improve significantly the hearing health of the Hoh of all ages.
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NOTE: The Healthy People 2010 Midcourse Review on Vision and Hearing includes several paragraphs re objectives, issues, progress, status toward eliminating 'hearing' health disparities. Parents of children, especially those with 'hearing' disabilities may be interested in reading the sections at:
http://www.healthypeople.gov/Data/midco
and
http://www.healthypeople.gov/Data/midco
~~~~~~~~
Meyer Moldeven
'Being blind takes away things; being deaf takes away people.' (Attributed to Helen Keller)
~~~
NOTES:
Item 28 of this list. Book, Title: 'Noise And Military Service: Implications For Hearing Loss And Tinnitus' may interest active and former members of the U. S. Armed Forces and their families.
Item 29 of this list: The Healthy People 2010 Midcourse Review on Vision and Hearing includes several paragraphs re objectives, issues, progress, and status toward eliminating 'hearing' health disparities. Parents, especially of children with 'hearing' disabilities may be interested this checking section for potentially useful information.
We learn from each other. Your 'tips' and experiences on talking and interacting with the hoh are invited and will be appreciated by other readers. Please add them to the 'Leave a comment' space at the end of this journal item. They will be considered for inclusion.
~~~
Preface
Several years ago, prompted by a hearing-disabled public school teacher and professional in guiding and educating hard-of-hearing children, I compiled a list of 'tips' for consideration by 'normal' hearing persons who talk to or otherwise interact with the hoh. I posted the list online to various Internet forums, lists and message boards and occasionally updated the list with input from readers. I am an elderly hearing-disabled layperson and post these informal 'tips' and relevant content as FYI only. These 'tips' are NOT substitutes for or intended to be authoritative advice, procedures, techniques, treatment, or for any professional healthcare purpose. This list is posted online and otherwise disseminated as public service and content, unless specifically tagged accordingly, is in the 'public domain.'
Introduction
'Hearing loss' affects people of all ages. Presbycusis, the loss of hearing associated with aging, affects about 30 percent of adults aged 65 years and older. About half of the population over age 75 years has a significant hearing loss. As the population ages and lives longer, these numbers are increasing. Only about one-fourth of those who could benefit from a hearing aid actually use one.
These tips are based on suggestions from many sources: speech therapists, teachers of hearing-disabled children, professionals in audiology, geriatrics and gerontology, caregivers, and from the hearing-disabled themselves and their families.
Please disseminate further. Additional 'tips,' constructive comments, practices and useful anecdotes, vignettes consistent with the stated intent evident in the text are appreciated provided that they are freely offered and identified by the sender as 'public domain' (not copyrighted or otherwise restricted as to their general distribution.) Please share them with all of us in the 'Comments' space in this posting; they will also be considered for including in the next update to the list.
Especially needed for this list is input from teachers, caregivers, people in industry, commerce, law enforcement, and healthcare professionals and their staff who, as normal requirements of their jobs, communicate orally with hearing-disabled customers, clients, patients, victims and others as individuals, in groups, or who just happen to be present in a general audience and want/need to 'communicate' with another human being at the lectern.
Scope
The population of 'older adults' is increasing across the world, and age-related hearing disability is common. The hoh and deaf, however, affect all ages and both genders, and children too, everywhere. The public's need for better means to communicate within and among families, friends, students of all ages and their teachers, and professionals in health and patient-care, academia, the arts, and commerce will accordingly demand more attention. It's important for the 'normal-hearing' person to practice the best possible oral and other forms of one-to-one and group communications with the hoh.
United States Government statistics estimate 28 million people - about 10 percent of the U.S. population - are deaf or hoh of which, according to Healthy People 2010, about 1,500,000 victims, aged 3 years or older, are deaf in both ears. The earlier issue of Healthy People (HP2000) stated: '... patient and family interpersonal communication training, and environmental structuring can help to enhance the ... quality of life for the hearing-impaired....' Being aware that 'unintended consequences' on the hoh such as social isolation, frustration, misunderstandings, and other adverse emotional and mental health effects increase pressures on both the hoh and the speaker. That's where disseminating, teaching and applying 'tips' such as those listed here come in.
Tips
1. Whenever possible, face the hoh person directly, and on the same level. Your speech will be more easily understood when you are not eating, chewing, smoking, mumbling, or interacting with others distant or in another room.
2. A medical/industrial face mask or shield significantly muffles the speech of a health care professional or other person who needs to communicate with a hoh client/patient in the course of a procedure, industrial/commercial/management conversation, or a social interaction, even if the hoh listener is wearing hearing aids. If possible, slow your speech down and enunciate with more care than usual. Usually, your normal tone and the sound level of your voice will suffice if you slow down. A brief pause between sentences will help the hoh listener to understand. Should the listener ask you to repeat, don't show impatience; the hoh person may have a problem dealing with it along with their mounting frustration in not being able to understand you.
Specific 'oral' instructions, recommendations, etc., by a healthcare professional to an hoh, ailing, elderly, and/or confused patient in the course of, or concluded examination/procedure are, quite often, not adequately recollected afterward by the patient and his/her accompanying companion. A hand-scribed checklist to remind the patient/family what he/she/they should do or not do, also, should specified contingencies occur, will help the hoh patient, and his/her family considerably.
3. Reduce background noises when carrying on conversations -- turn down or turn off the radio, TV, or other noise-generating devices.
4. Keep your hands away from your face while talking. Don't shout; speak slowly and distinctly. Transmissions of voices via hearing aids often arrive garbled at their destination in the brain. Expect to be asked to repeat your message.
5. If it's difficult for a person to understand, find another way of saying the same thing, rather than repeating the original words; move to a quieter location.
6. Recognize that hoh people hear and understand less well when they are tired or ill.
7. Never talk from another room. Be sure to get the attention of the person to whom you will speak before you start talking.
8. Speak in a normal fashion without shouting. If practical, see to it that a light is not shining directly into the eyes of the hoh person.
(The following comments were received via online community discussion groups, message boards and emails.)
9. I teach nursing assistant training at a long-term care facility. Needless to say, we have a number of residents whose hearing is impaired. Add these to your suggestions, especially if you are a healthcare provider or caregiver:
a. A woman's voice is often harder to hear than a man's, because of the pitch. Make a conscious effort to lower the pitch of your voice if you are a female.
b. Speak slowly and clearly.
c. If the person wears a hearing aid, make sure that it has batteries that work, that it's turned 'on' and is clean and free from earwax.
d. If you know (or if it becomes evident) from which side the person hears best, talk to that side.
10. (There were several opinions/practices on the preceding item 9. (described in the following sub-paragraphs and in Item 26):
a. It is better to speak directly face-to-face. Face-to-face communication in situations where relatively diffuse lighting is adequate and lights the speaker's face helps the hearing-impaired listener to observe the speaker's facial expressions, as well as lip movements.
b. Individuals with hearing impairment can also benefit from seating themselves at a table where they can best see all parties (e.g. the end of a rectangular table). Asking people to let you know beforehand when they are going to change the subject of conversation can also be helpful, as it can often prevent an embarrassing error.
c. Often, a person who is hoh has a 'good' or 'better' side -- right or left -- ask him or her if they do. If they indicate a preference, direct your remarks to the 'good' side or face-to-face, as they wish.
d. See that the light is not shining in the eyes of the hoh person... change position so that you are not standing in front of a light source such as a window, which puts your face in silhouette and makes it hard to speech read.
e. Avoid abrupt changes of subject or interjecting small talk into your conversation, as your hoh listener will be using context intensely to understand what you are saying.
f. If the hoh person wears an aid, trying raising the pitch of your voice just slightly. If louder doesn't help, try lowering the pitch of your voice.
g. If all else fails, rephrase or try a relative, whose voice will be familiar to the hoh-er.
h. Don't talk too fast.
i. Pronounce words clearly. If the hearing-impaired person has difficulty with letters and numbers say: M as in Mary, 2 as in twins, B as in Boy, and each number separately: five six instead of fifty-six; because m, n and 2, 3, 56, 66 and b, c, d, e, t and v sound alike.
j. Keep a note pad handy and write your words and show them if you have to -- just don't walk away leaving the hearing-impaired puzzling over what you said and thinking that you just don't care.
k. Be patient.
(More comments from families and friends of the hoh and from the hoh themselves)
11. I have been using your list for my beginning-nursing students -- for about three years. It is a wonderful asset. Besides my dealings with patients, I have a lived experience. My nephew (now in his mid twenties) is hoh since birth, but has partial hearing with hearing aids. His steady girlfriend is also hoh but has partial hearing with cochlear implants. I have found that it is very important to decrease the length of sentences. One can use the same vocabulary, etc., but avoid excessive strings of words. I also watch my hand movements. I tend to talk with my hands and when my nephew was very young and learning to talk, he would watch my face for cues. One day he told me he did not know whether 'to watch my face or watch my hands.'
12. I'm a hearing-disabled senior citizen who had a heart attack some years ago that required 'by-pass' surgery. Subsequent follow-up monitoring and treatment consisted of routine follow-up by my cardiologist that included periodic tests in a clinic's radiology lab and heart, lung and blood department. At both locations the administrative staffs and the nurses and technicians were always courteous, considerate and professional. No difficulty there. Where I invariably did experience considerable difficulty was in hearing and understanding what staff, technicians and physicians were saying to me.
At the outset of an exam or test I always pointed to my hearing aids and told those attending that I was hoh. I assumed that by noting this those attending would keep in mind when they asked questions of me or gave me information and instructions during the exam and test. Yet, during the exam or test, invariably, when any one of them looked directly at me and spoke - and from their expressions it was clear that they were addressing me - I did not grasp their 'words' or their speech came through garbled. The problem was not with the hearing aids; I usually installed new batteries before such visits and double-checked that they were 'on' well before any oral exchanges were to take place.
I believe that what likely happened was that the staff and technicians (and physicians) did take note of my hearing aids. They adjusted their speech patterns accordingly, then, concentrating on their work they drifted back into their normal manner of speaking. Consequently, I often missed much of what was being directed at me. If I was certain that I had missed something I usually brought myself to ask a speaker to 'please repeat that.' More often, embarrassed, I relied on context.
I suggest that the 'questionnaire' that each patient usually completes in a doctor's outer office or lobby before entering the examination room, include a prominent space with the question: 'Are you hoh or deaf?' [Calling for a yes-no entry by the patient.] This should alert all those that review the form's entries that the patient has a hearing problem, and remind them to communicate accordingly. (I can't think of any reason why a patient can't just add this information on his/her own to the questionnaire.)
I also suggest consideration be given by the AMA, the APA, and other healthcare oversight entities that a patient's medical record or folder (especially for hospitalization) have a color-coded label affixed to signify that the patient is deaf, hoh, or otherwise hearing-disabled. The implications of disabled hearing are far too serious in healthcare matters where a patient's full understanding of his/her doctor's diagnosis, prognosis and relevant treatments is literally vital, and all too often can involve life-death decisions. Physician and staff's conscientious responsiveness to a patient's hearing-disability and consequent comprehension limitations deserve to be an ethical, if not a legal responsibility.
13. As a long time health care professional (dietitian) that has had hearing aids for 25 years, I am on both sides of the problem. I work in long-term care and notice that the staff tends to repeat themselves when a resident doesn't hear - they also raise their voices. If the resident still doesn't hear, they rephrase the question so different sounds are used. In my case, this raising of the voice works as my hearing loss is opposite of most people in that I can hear high frequencies better than the low ones. In fact, I have more trouble hearing the residents and have to ask them to repeat their comments. (I have had the aids adjusted and it doesn't improve the situation) What bothers me is when they raise their voice and it sounds like an angry voice rather than a questioning or commenting voice. This is something health care professionals need to work on.
14. I have very good hearing but work with a person who not only mumbles but also walks away as he is talking to you. I think he is so preoccupied with what he is thinking about that he thinks everyone will follow him as he goes to whatever he intends doing next.
15. I know exactly what you mean! I've had that problem all my life. I never considered myself 'handicapped' or ’disabled' but other people sure made it hard for me to 'fit in.' I, too, avoided joining clubs and going to meetings because of the difficulty. That is the problem with deafness, it is so isolating.
16. I do agree that other people often just don't think about the hoh. I have a so-called friend who, when I once told her that her extra low voice is hard on me, rolled her eyes to heaven and sighed. I almost told her to go to hell. That's not friendship, in my opinion.
I once asked a speaker to raise his voice a little. He looked at me with disdain and said for me just to move up to the first row. His voice almost got lower after that.
17. I have one relatively dead ear (left) and one relatively good ear -- have a fairly adequate hearing aid in right ear, nothing in left ear (because no use) -- I have discovered that I lip read a lot -- which means that if you talk to a hoh person, face them. If you are around the corner, or you turn away, you become much harder to understand. Also, do not hesitate to let people know hearing is a problem. I have a friend who is too proud to say, 'please repeat' or 'I missed your last remark' etc. There are a few controlling, slightly sadistic folks who won't speak up regardless of whether you ask them to. Not much you can do about them. But they are far and few between. On the telephone I often have to ask people to talk a bit more slowly and usually get prompt and satisfactory results.
18. In all fairness, I don't believe people are sadistic; they just do not relate to hearing problems. They often feel 'put upon' if they are expected to accommodate our handicap. I have an audiologist who turns and walks away from me as he is giving me instructions. I've asked him repeatedly to face me as he speaks, but he forgets. In small meetings, I may ask a speaker to 'speak up' and they do - for a few seconds - and then fall back into their normal tones. Some, I hear perfectly well and others, not at all. Hearing aids are not for everyone I've learned to my dismay. For me, they make speech louder, but not clearer.
19. I can hear some people perfectly well, and not others. What is unbelievable is that my ear doctor will turn and walk away while talking to me! I've told him repeatedly that I cannot understand him unless he faces me when he speaks. People take note of that when you first mention it, and moments later, they forget. It has come to a point that I avoid meetings, even of small groups. If I ask the speaker to 'speak up,' they do so, but only for a moment. Unfortunately, hearing aids have not resolved my problem.
20. Had an interesting work experience. Many years ago [pre-computer era], I taught at The New York School of Printing in NYC, a boys' vocational high school. Many deaf and 'hearing impaired' boys were channeled there, because printing presses in those days made a huge noise. I taught 11th grade English, and I was told that all I had to do was be sure to face those students. They did just as well as the rest of the class.
A dear friend of mine is blind - she holds a regular, full-time job, is married, cooks, plays 'beep' ball [noisy version of baseball], goes to Marlin games, rides a tandem bike with her husband, 'watches' movies, and has the most marvelous guide dog in the world. She prefers the word 'blind.' She says, 'I'm not visually-impaired - I'm blind!'
21. Appreciated your list of suggestions when talking to the hard of hearing. My mother, in her 80's is extremely hard of hearing. We've all gotten used to it, but occasionally it creates peculiar situations when she answers a question different from the one you asked because she only gets 3 or 4 words in the sentence and guesses at whatever else was said. For a while, my father thought she was in early stages of Alzheimer's because she gave these screwy responses. Believe me, we were all happy to find out that her non-sequiters were the result of hearing loss. So maybe you should remind people that the hearing-impaired may appear senile because they are only getting part of what is said and responding as best they can without realizing the response may be inappropriate.
I love it when my kids come back from visiting my parents. They plant themselves directly in front of me and speak distinctly and slowly and they never call to me from another room. Unfortunately the effect wears off after half a day.
22. As someone who was born with only 50% hearing and down to 20/30, I know the suggestions you've posted will be most helpful to everyone with a hearing loss.
The 'keep hands away from mouth' part really helps if the hoh person is a lip-reader also. I found dangling cigarettes, gum chewing, and mumbling the hardest to 'read.'
I hope with education, people will begin to be less rude to the hearing-impaired. I had a supervisor once who would turn her back on me because she didn't like me 'looking at her' when she talked. She also wore braces and it was extremely difficult to understand her.
Unfortunately, some people still equate 'deaf' with 'dumb.' Hearing- impaired may have difficulty communicating but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with their ability to think. Don't leave them thinking you lack manners and education.
23. My niece lost her hearing at the age of 10. They never determined why it happened. The toughest thing for me was to tell her that I didn't understand what she was saying... so I stopped. Then one day my brother asked if I was upset with her. Of course I said 'no'. Then he told me that it hurt her when I didn't ask her to repeat herself until I understood. We began to talk and when we had difficulty with each other, would reach for pencil and pad. It became a game! We would spend more time working to understand because to write it down meant we hadn't yet succeeded to complete the bridge. Today, we still have to ask each other to repeat, but never have to reach for a pencil. She is the mother of two older teenagers, is employed at the University of -- Library and is an avid cyclist.... far from being 'Dumb'.
24. The one time I purchased a hearing aid, I thought it was necessary to put up with discomfort in order to get used to it. Returned from a trip with a badly infected ear caused by a 'spur' on the plastic. Your friends may be hypersensitive to the material that the hearing aids are made from - let them know. Ear doctor was concerned that I had not consulted him before purchase. He said a hearing aid would make things sound louder, but not clearer because of my type of hearing loss.
25. I have three lady friends that refuse to wear their hearing aids. Their ears get red and swollen when they wear them and I'm tired of having to talk so loud. Does anybody know what the aids could be coated with to stop this irritation to their ears? I use clear nail polish on my glasses and watch to keep them so I can wear them, but the hearing aids are made of different material and I don't want to make their ears worse.
26. I remember always wanting to sit to the right side of the class, from where I was sitting facing the teacher. I never really thought about why I always preferred that site. I didn't do so great in class when I was placed on the left side of the classroom or put near the back. I got too distracted when I sat in back - I obviously needed to pay attention to hear what was being said. Visual distractions threw me then, as they do now!
27. Technically, hearing loss is asymmetrical, something I learned on a listserv this spring. This means loss in both of my son's ears, but one different from the other. The audiologist has always called it unilateral loss, thus minimizing the impact of the loss in his 'good' ear, the left ear. We always sit to his left when we hold him, read to him or do anything with him. When he had access to his ALD (assistive listening device) at home, it didn't matter which side we sat on. However, he just can't understand what we say if we're on his right. I'm so used to being careful about sitting on his left that when I sit next to anyone I'm already checking which side of them I'm sitting on.
When I call to him I always tell him the room that I'm in, not just say, 'I'm here!' In school, we wanted a C-shaped arrangement with (him) sitting so that he could lip-read the kids. They instead grouped the tables into four and placed them throughout the room. The teacher is supposed to use a conference mic but I'm starting to suspect she doesn't. (He) does say he can hear the children.... but hearing and truly understanding are often different. Might be part of the LaLaLand syndrome.
He hears but doesn't always understand. He does automatically turn his good ear to people now and says 'What...' Very typical of the image you have of a deaf old codger... except he's a little guy. It's good though because finally he's advocating for himself and starting to let the world know he doesn't understand. With all of his 'whats' it's a lot harder for the world to miss his hearing issues.
~~~~
The following may interest active and former members of the U. S. Armed Forces and their families.
28. Noise And Military Service: Implications For Hearing Loss And Tinnitus
Larry E. Humes, Lois M. Joellenbeck, and Jane S. Durch, Editors, Committee on Noise-Induced Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Associated with Military Service from World War II to the Present. 338 pages, 6 x 9, 2005, National Academies Press.
The publisher's website at:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11443.ht
contains the following note:
"Jump to this book's table of contents to begin reading online for free."
Also, the website has a link providing for:
The book's Executive Summary (PDF) to be FREELY downloaded at:
http://newton.nap.edu/execsumm_pdf/1144
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The Institute of Medicine carried out a study mandated by Congress and sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide an assessment of several issues related to noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus associated with service in the Armed Forces since World War II. The resulting book, Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, presents findings on the presence of hazardous noise in military settings, levels of noise exposure necessary to cause hearing loss or tinnitus, risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus, the timing of the effects of noise exposure on hearing, and the adequacy of military hearing conservation programs and audiometric testing. The book stresses the importance of conducting hearing tests (audiograms) at the beginning and end of military service for all military personnel and recommends several steps aimed at improving the military services prevention of and surveillance for hearing loss and tinnitus. The book also identifies research needs, emphasizing topics specifically related to military service.
~~~~~
29. HEARING ISSUES AND TRENDS
(Source: Healthy People 2010 Report: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services)
An estimated 28 million people in the United States are deaf or hard of hearing. Some 1,465,000 individuals aged 3 years or older are deaf in both ears. Deafness or hearing impairment may be caused by genetic factors, noise or trauma, sensitivity to certain drugs or medications, and viral or bacterial infections.
Language is the set of rules that allow for the sharing of thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Speaking is one way that language can be expressed. Language also is expressed in writing or through sign language by some groups of individuals. In some cases, language can be expressed in additional ways by people who have neurological disorders. The most intensive period for development of language, either spoken or signed, is during the first 3 years of life. This is the period when the brain is developing and maturing.
The skills associated with effective acquisition of language, either speech or sign, depend on exposure to, and manipulation of, these communication tools. Early identification of deafness or hearing loss is a critical factor in preventing or ameliorating language delay or disorder in children who are deaf or hard of hearing, allowing appropriate intervention or rehabilitation to begin while the developing brain is ready. Early identification and intervention have lifelong implications for the child's understanding and use of language.
The standard estimate of congenital hearing loss (1 in 1,000 live births) appears to underestimate actual congenital hearing loss as reported in data from States with universal newborn screening programs. Estimates based on emerging data place the number at 2 to 3 per 1,000 live births. These data do not include children who are born with normal hearing but have late-onset or progressive hearing loss. Hearing loss often is sufficient to prevent the spontaneous development of spoken language.
More than 50 percent of childhood hearing impairments are believed to be of genetic origin. Earliest possible identification of infant hearing loss has been endorsed widely as critical for the developing child. Minimal hearing loss also is an important factor in school success and psychosocial development.
Estimates for the average age of diagnosis of hearing loss in infants and children range from 14 months to around 3 years. This delay of diagnosis is significant in terms of time lost for rehabilitation and time lost during unique opportunities provided by brain development in the infant and young child for language acquisition, spoken or signed. Nearly 15 percent of children have a low-frequency or high-frequency hearing loss.
Strategies for intervention or rehabilitation depend on the kind of hearing loss, age of onset, services available, and family preferences. Strategies include hearing aids, augmentative and assistive devices, oral-auditory instruction, sign language instruction, interpreter services, cued speech, cochlear implant, or combinations of these devices and strategies.
More than 300 inherited syndromes involve hearing impairment. Hereditary hearing loss can be either syndromic (accompanied by other characteristics, such as visual impairment) or nonsyndromic (where hearing loss is the only identifiable characteristic). Not all hereditary hearing loss is present at birth. Some hereditary hearing loss may be progressive or may appear later in childhood or adulthood as late-onset hearing impairment or deafness.
One cause of late-onset hearing loss is otosclerosis. Otosclerosis, an abnormal growth of bone in the middle ear, results in gradual loss of hearing and affects 1 out of 100 adults in the U.S. population. Another form of hearing loss is Meniere's disease, which causes bilateral, often fluctuating, hearing loss in 20 to 40 percent of cases, usually in conjunction with balance disorder and tinnitus.
Otitis media, or middle ear infection, accounts for 24.5 million visits to doctors' offices and is the most frequent reason cited for taking children to the emergency department. Health care costs for otitis media in the United States have been reported to be $3 billion to $5 billion per year. Otitis media often occurs in repeated bouts, causing periods of hearing loss that can affect children during the critical time for language and speech acquisition and hamper children in a variety of learning environments.
Approximately 10 million persons in the United States have permanent, irreversible hearing loss from noise or trauma. Additionally, 30 million people are estimated to be exposed to injurious levels of noise each day. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most common occupational disease and the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury.
In industry-specific studies, 44 percent of carpenters and 48 percent of plumbers reported they had a perceived hearing loss. Ninety percent of coal miners are estimated to have a hearing impairment by age 52 years, and 70 percent of male metal and nonmetal miners will experience a hearing impairment by age 60 years.
Data indicate that people are losing hearing earlier in life and that men are more frequently affected in the 35- to 60-year-old age group. Noise-induced hearing loss can be the result of a traumatic, sudden level of impulse noise, such as an explosion, that can leave an individual immediately and permanently deafened; the result of continuing exposure to high levels of sound in the workplace or in recreational settings; the consequence of years of exposure causing subtle, progressive damage; or exacerbated due to individual vulnerability to noise. Noise-induced hearing loss is related to noise level, proximity to the harmful sound, time of exposure, and individual susceptibility. Many of these causes can be controlled by prevention. Prevention of noise-induced hearing loss is necessary for people both on and off the job.
DISPARITIES
The work environment of the 21st century will require intense use of communication and information skills and technologies. The individual who has a communication disability, disorder, or difference may be at a disadvantage.
Data show that students with disabilities, including hearing impairment and deafness, are disproportionately disadvantaged. The average reading level for deaf persons aged 18 years is estimated at the fourth grade. Early intervention for language acquisition, spoken or signed, can improve later ability to use language. Hearing impairments also are a major barrier to health care access and information.
Older people also are a major concern in terms of hearing health disparity. Presbycusis, the loss of hearing associated with aging, affects about 30 percent of adults who are aged 65 years and older. About half of the population over age 75 years has a significant hearing loss. As the population ages and lives longer, these numbers are increasing. Only about one-fourth of those who could benefit from a hearing aid actually use one. More than 8 percent of the population aged 70 years and older report both hearing and vision impairment. With the exception of increased hearing loss in men, there are no currently available data on these disparities.
OPPORTUNITIES
Two activities have yielded opportunity for early identification and intervention for infants who are born deaf or with hearing impairments. As of 1999, 20 States had laws requiring hearing screening in the newborn nursery. Early identification allows for language acquisition, either spoken or signed, during the critical time period when the child is developing communication skills. Research in the field of molecular genetics has identified genes that contribute to hereditary hearing impairment. The potential exists for early identification and intervention for hearing impairment. Identifying individuals who may experience late-onset or progressive hearing loss provides time to make the appropriate treatment or rehabilitation options available.
Public education can promote hearing health and behavior to reduce noise-induced hearing loss, which is a fully preventable condition. An education effort, WISE EARS!, has been launched by a coalition of government agencies headed by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They have joined with State agencies; some 70 public interest, advocacy, and patient organizations; businesses; industries; and unions as well as health professional organizations in a national effort to educate the public about ear defense.
The education effort focuses both on the public, with special emphasis on children, and on the workforce and has important World Wide Web-based components. A further opportunity exists with noise-induced hearing loss prevention. Tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or roaring in the ears, is a symptom that accompanies many forms of hearing loss and can be debilitating. Data indicate that tinnitus affects almost 15 percent of adults aged 45 years and older. Because tinnitus often is associated with preventable noise-induced hearing loss, hearing protection is key to reducing one important cause of tinnitus.
Assistive technologies are providing additional strategies for individuals with disabilities. For individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, improved technologies will facilitate their ability to have an equal opportunity in the workplace and in society. Early identification for improved intervention strategies, prevention of noise-induced hearing loss through health education, and the development of innovations in assistive technology could improve significantly the hearing health of the Hoh of all ages.
~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: The Healthy People 2010 Midcourse Review on Vision and Hearing includes several paragraphs re objectives, issues, progress, status toward eliminating 'hearing' health disparities. Parents of children, especially those with 'hearing' disabilities may be interested in reading the sections at:
http://www.healthypeople.gov/Data/midco
and
http://www.healthypeople.gov/Data/midco
~~~~~~~~
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Hot War-Cold War Back-of-the-Lines Logistics (Memoirs)
Jun. 26th, 2008 | 09:11 am
(Edited and material added March 14, 2009)
Meyer Moldeven
About the author
United States government logistician with the US Air Force from 1941 until retirement in 1974. Senior emergency survival gear maintenance technician (parachutes, life rafts, escape and evasion gear) at the Hawaiian Air Depot (WW2); developed USAF maintenance and operations manuals at Wright Field (1949-1952); transferred to a USAF North African base and developed logistics plans for (future) emergency support to disabled US/NATO aircraft landing along the North African-Med coasts in the event of a WW3 (1951-1953); during U. S. post-Sputnik initiatives to create a national space program was member of a USAF Log Command team that critiqued aerospace industries' pre-program definition (conceptual) proposals for space systems organization, infrastructure and support (Space Logistics, Operations, Maintenance and Rescue' (Project SLOMAR); during 'Viet Nam' was civilian deputy to the IG McClellan AFB, Calif. a USAF major logistics center near Sacramento, California.
~~~
CONTENTS
1. Preface: Logistics
2. Introduction: We Learn From Each Other
3. Memoir: Survival Equipment Maintenance Technician: World War Two: Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. 1942-1948
4. Memoir: Urgent Procurement of Aircrew Bailout Parachutes and other Emergency Survival Gear to Meet U. S. Air Force Priority Needs for the Korean War, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. 1950
5. Memoir: Cold War Contingency Planning: Nouasseur Air Base, Morocco 1952-1955
6. Future History: Spacefaring Societies, Inexhaustible Nonrenewable Resources, and Logistics, McClellan Air Force Base, California, 1961, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/4
7. Memoir: Military-Civilian Teamwork In Suicide Prevention, 'Viet Nam' Years, McClellan Air Force Base, California, 1969 and Afterwards, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/8
8. Checklist and Memoir: Fix And Prevent Mistakes and Deficiencies in the Workplace, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/9
~~~
1. PREFACE Logistics: (military definition) The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces.... those aspects of military operations that deal with the design and development, acquisition, storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation and disposition of material; movement, evacuation, and hospitalization of personnel; acquisition of construction, maintenance, operation and disposition of facilities; and acquisition of furnishing of services. (Joint Chiefs of Staff Publication 1-02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms]
2. INTRODUCTION Lore adapts to altered circumstances and lifestyles, and to cultures and environments other than the times and places where the 'lore' had its roots. The familiar may be comfortable, but we also read and listen for other perspectives that disclose events and experiences grown dim over the decades, and in time, of generations and centuries past.
Memoirs and often just storytelling a civilization's and a culture's traditions, values, 'how to... guidance, and even opportunities to inject a sense of history and visions of a future. In doing so, their mix provides context to interactions among the family's constituents and continuity to their societies and communities. Excessively redundant, they might appear as frayed platitudes. Yet, throughout all civilizations a people's traditions, values and suggestions retain their relevancy and often, their majesty.
Tradition passes history to a new generation on what happened to family and community across time, and, to the extent possible, the reasons and the lessons. Elders' stories and lore convey facts and interpretations about customs, events and personalities and how they became part of the whole. Tradition supports the family's and the society's sense of continuity.
Social and cultural awareness offers sanctuary to education, law enforcement, science, sports, health care, religion, and more. Together, they form a collection of interacting primary forces that drive a civilization's evolution in concepts, principles and methodologies that societies utilize to make life possible and livable. Awareness includes what is wrong with the way things are, as well as what is right.
~~~~
3. MEMOIR: SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN, WORLD WAR II, HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, HAWAII 1942-1948
Several years after I retired from my Civil Service career after 34 years with the U. S. Air Force Logistics Command I was one of several addressees on an email from a teacher at a middle school in a northeastern state. She wrote that her students were working on a class project about the United States involvement in World War II and invited memoirs from older Americans who had lived through those times. The students wanted to learn directly from those who had served in the nation's wartime Armed Forces and Merchant Marine, as well as from civilians on the home front who had produced, serviced, and transported weapons and supplies from where they were made to where they were used. They also wanted to hear from people who cared for the wounded and helped in other ways.
The teacher added a note that memoirs received had generated questions among the students. The result was a Q&A exchange conducted in follow-up email communications. At the project's conclusion, the students' teacher reported to the online community that the project had been a great success: the students learned history from those who had lived it. The storytellers, many of whom were long retired, had an audience for reminiscences that might not otherwise have surfaced. Together with the students, they had created a bridge from the 1940s to the 1990s and, in doing so, had contributed to the historical records of an important era in American history. The experience enhanced communications and respect across the generations.
I wrote to the students about my work as a parachute rigger and survival equipment technician during the war. To set the stage, I described the parachute's purpose: to lower a weight, that is, a person or a cargo, slowly and safely from a place high above the Earth's surface to a place on the ground. In time of war, the one-way trip down might be aircrews that were forced to abandon their airplanes because the craft could no longer remain airborne.
During World War II, tens of thousands of airborne soldiers parachuted from transport aircraft and gliders with their weapons as part of military operations. Almost equally in numbers, cargo parachutes lowered food, weapons, and other essential supplies and equipment to the fighting forces and to isolated civilian communities. Parachutes also have a wide range of uses in peacetime, such as emergency egress from disabled aircraft and other airborne systems, slowing an aircraft or space shuttle on a runway after a high-speed landing, sport parachuting, 'fire jumpers' fighting forest fires, rescues in terrain that lack easier access, and more.
Parachutes must work the first time; there are very few second chances.
~~~
In September 1941 I was a civilian parachute rigger for the Air Service Command at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio. My job was to repair and service-pack personnel and cargo parachutes for United States Army Air Corps aircrews, Army Airborne troops in training, and American and friendly foreign nations' special operations in which the United States was involved at that time in various parts of the world.
The months from September through November of 1941 were busy in the parachute shop at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio where I worked as a rigger. The conflict, even in its early stage, had already swept across Europe and on fronts in Asiaand Africa. The United States Army and Navy accelerated their training programs, and Americans were active in various capacities in the war zones of other nations. The parachute shop, as were other industrial facilities at Patterson Field, and dozens of other military installations throughout the United States, was on a round-the-clock seven-day workweek.
Parachutes requiring periodic servicing or tech order modification, or were damaged, were brought to our shop in large quantities from United States training bases and overseas theaters of operations. Military parachutes in general use by the Army Air Corps at the time were the 'ripcord' deployed Type S-1, a 24-foot diameter canopy seat type; Type S-2, a 28 foot diameter canopy seat type; the B-7, a 24 foot diameter canopy back type; and the A-1 quick-attachable (QAC) chest type. Seat, back and chest parachute canopies were deployed by a pilot chute that ejected from the pack (canopy container) when the ripcord was pulled free, drawing the canopy to full extension when the jumper pulled the ripcord attached to the parachute harness. The chest type A-1 ripcord was attached to the canopy pack (container).
In all of the above parachute types, the ripcord cable, at the end opposite the 'pull' grip, has two pins installed, one behind but clear of the other. Each pin fits into a hole through a shaped cone that is fastened to the inner closing flap and protrudes up through grommets on the outer, inner, and side flaps. Pulling the ripcord releases all flaps simultaneously, and they are instantly drawn back by bungee cords, uncovering the canopy and freeing the spring-loaded pilot chute that draws the canopy free of the pack and extends it to its full length.
The types T-4 and T-5 28 foot diameter canopy back types were in use almost entirely for training Army airborne troops for mass jumps as paratroops. The canopies of the T-types were deployed by a 'breakaway' cord and lanyard that links the back-packed canopy at its apex to a stressed overhead cable along the troop carrier's interior ending above the egress door.
~~
Often, the parachutes that arrived in our shop for repair and modification had harnesses, which are wrapped around the jumpers to lower them safely, were shredded, canopies ripped and pack containers and emergency survival attachments were scorched and gory. I was in a crew that fixed and packed personnel parachutes, and then drop-tested a number of them selected at random by the shop foreman from each two or three hundred that had been processed for major repairs.
The drop test consisted of attaching one end of a lanyard to the ripcord handle of a service-packed parachute to a 120-pound weight or canvas-covered dummy, loading the weights or dummies into a C-47 airplane, and connecting the free end of the 30 lanyard to a cable stretched taut above the airplane egress door. The door was lashed open. Each of the two men on the test crew wore a back type parachute secured to the airplane frame by a strong webbing belt so that they would not accidentally fall from the aircraft.
The pilot took off and circled the field at about a thousand feet. Approaching the drop zone, the co-pilot flashed a red warning light above the door where the parachute handlers were stationed. At the next signal (green) the handlers, one on each side of drop load, heaved the weight out the door. The lanyard, reaching full length , pulled the ripcord, and the canopy deployed, opened, inflated, and descended. The ground crew tracked the drift of the descending parachute to where it would most likely touch ground and run in that direction.
Ground crew work is not dull. I remember how we would spread out, and watch the dummy as it fell. As soon as we got a fix on where the parachute would land, we'd head for it, haul in one of the 'risers' to spill air from the canopy, and get it all together with the least possible damage to the parachute and to ourselves.
There were times, even on a relatively calm day, when a gust would pass across the field and re-inflate the canopy before we got to it. A partially inflated canopy in a gentle breeze can drag a heavy dummy and parachute along the ground faster than ground handlers can run.
I'll always remember chasing a parachute and its weighted load that a sudden gust dragged, rolled, twisted, and bounced along in a field we were using for the drop zone. Finally, I caught up, and grabbed and hauled back on the risers. I managed to spill enough air to deflate the canopy. Controlling an about 120 pound dummy that's is being tossed around by a breeze can be a bit bruising.
Back at the shop after the tests, we inspected every part and surface of the parachute closely to see how well it had been repaired. At one time, apprentice parachute riggers were not certified until they jump-tested a parachute that they, themselves, had inspected, repaired and packed. Jump certification by riggers was suspended because of the enormously increased workload.
~~
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, I was working the night shift in the Parachute Shop. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that morning was being reported on the radio in almost continuous news flashes. About an hour after the work shift began, our supervisor instructed all male parachute riggers to go immediately to the aircraft maintenance main hangar nearby. Several hundred men from aircraft and aircraft systems repair shops, and other shops on the air base, were already there. They were milling about; I joined them and wondered why we had been called together.
A military officer climbed to the platform at the top of an aircraft maintenance stand. Drawing attention by rapping on the stand's railing with a metal object, he told us that the Air Corps needed skilled workers and supervisors immediately at Hickam Field in Hawaii. Whoever wanted to go, he said, should raise his arm and his name would be placed on a list.
I happened to be single, footloose and fancy-free at the time, and my arm got caught in the updraft. We were told to stand by, and the others instructed to return to their shops. Those of us, who stayed, lined up, and our names, badge numbers, and job titles were entered on a list. Each of us was given an instruction sheet.
The next morning, following the instructions, I reported to the dispensary for vaccinations and immunization shots in both arms, and then to the Personnel Office to sign papers that came at me from all directions. I had a week to get my affairs in order; after that I would be on stand-by for departure. A week later, along with several hundred other volunteer workers, I boarded a train on a siding next to a warehouse, and was on my way west.
The train, with all windows covered by blackout curtains, left Patterson Field, Dayton, Ohio, in the dead of night, and arrived three days later at Moffett Field near Mountain View, California. Disembarked, we lined up for bedrolls, and were pointed toward rows of tents in a muddy field adjacent a dirigible hangar. An instruction sheet, tacked to the tent's center pole, told us where the mess halls were located, and the meals schedule by tent number.
More trains arrived the next day and the day following. Hundreds of civilian workers joined us in the tents waiting for the next leg of our journey. We quickly got to know each other; we had come from all across the country: New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia, Alabama and Texas, Utah and California. The Air Corps bases at which we had signed up were Griffis and Olmstead, Patterson and Robbins, Brookley and Kelly, and Hill and McClellan. We were the vanguard,ready to move out with little or no advance notice.
Except for a carry-on bag, with a change of clothing and personal items, our luggage had gone directly into the ship's hold.
Days passed. The 'alert' came one night at 2 AM. Voices shouted along the lines of tents, 'This is it, you guys. Movin' out. One hour.'
In a torrential downpour, we slogged through ankle-deep mud and climbed into the backs of canvas-covered trucks. Flaps down, escorted by armed military guards in Jeeps, all of the trucks were blacked out except for dim lights gleaming through slits in their headlights. We formed up as a miles-long convoy rolling north along U.S. 101 from Moffett Field, and arrived, shortly before dawn, at Fort Mason, adjacent Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The trucks filled the pier from end to end; a gangway led up to the deck of a ship alongside. We learned later that she was the U.S. Grant, a World War I troop transport.
Herded below deck, we jammed into compartments where the narrow bunks were five high along aisles barely wide enough for passing. A 'Now, here this... .' over the loudspeaker restricted all passengers to their compartments, and to passageways only when necessary, until we were out of the harbor. We were to have our life preservers with us at all times.
Hours later, the ship's vibration, a back-and-forth shifting in my center of gravity, and creaking along the bulkheads, told me we were under way. Scuttlebutt was that we were in a convoy, escorted by destroyers. Enemy submarines were suspected to be in the area.
We took turns, by compartment number, going on deck. On our way to Honolulu, the convoy zigzagged frequently to minimize the success of an enemy air or submarine attack. Finally, on the fifth day, land appeared on the horizon and, shortly afterward, we saw Diamond Head. Our ship left the convoy and entered Honolulu harbor.
We docked and disembarked, under heavy military guard, at the Aloha Tower pier and boarded the Toonerville Trolley, as we got to know the train on Oahu's narrow gage railway. An hour later, we were at Hickam Field.
The devastation was appalling. Burned-out hulks of bombed aircraft were scattered about on parking aprons, and huge accumulations of debris lay next to aircraft hangars and along the roadways. The roofs of military barracks hung down along the outsides of the structures; they had exploded up and outward over the walls.
As a senior technician, I was assigned to the recovery and repair of damaged parachutes, life rafts, inflatable life preservers, oxygen masks, and the escape-and-evasion kits that air crews relied on when they bailed out over enemy territory. (Note: 'Survival' and 'escape and evasion' kits from (I assume) the South Pacific, Alaska, and China-Burma-India theaters began to arrive at our parachute shop in late 1942 for parachute maintenance, conduct tech order modifications, as required, http://www.bloodchit.com/ replace/refresh kit items and controlled return to the source activity.
The B-7 back type parachute, the 'standard' at the beginning of the Second World War, had a pad of about 2 inches thick of a spungy or foam-like substance encased in a zippered pad installed to serve as a cushion between the parachute wearer and the harness diagonal back straps.
A number of B-7s had been altered to create cutouts about half way through the pad and formed to accommodate shaped packets of medical items, rope, knife, survival guide, blood chit, socks, writing materials and, in a few instances a machine pistol. A sealed medical packet (tourniquet, bandage and pain relief syrette) was also tied to the parachute harness. Looking back now, I believe that these survival guides and kits are among the earliest escape-and-evasion used in WW2, forerunners those that evolved for the current SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) kits, see:
http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/shared/m
~
http://www.bloodchit.com/
~
http://cbi-theater-4.home.comcast.n
~
The B-7s, when their survival kits were attached, were usually delivered to our shop by an officer or an aircraft crew chief. At other times, I (as senior rigger) was phoned by my contact in the Supply Division (Supervisor of Property Class 13) to stand by for delivery of a controlled parachute. Upon receipt, the parachute was aired, inspected, cleaned to the extent possible, suspect parts and assemblies replaced and Tech Order special inspections and modifications accomplished. Parachutes with overage canopies were replaced; dates of manufacture are stamped on the canopies of all personnel parachutes.
The newly inspected and packed parachute, the checked back pad/survival kit, zipper closed and sealed by a clinched lead seal, the Form 46 parachute log 'signed off' by the journeyman and checked by senior rigger, were returned to the Depot Supply supervisor or, per instructions, to a named person or the crew chief of a specific tail number airplane.
~
Many of civilian employees of the Hawaiian Air Depot joined Hickam Field's armed civilians, officially titled the Hawaiian Air Depot Volunteer Corps. We were a group of employees who, during non-duty hours, trained to handle and fire a rifle and a pistol, and guarded locations at night where high security was needed. We were armed with '03 Enfield rifles and, at night, patrolled aircraft maintenance hangers, warehouses, instrument repair shops, and an engine repair line at Wheeler Field, near Wahiawa in the Oahu highlands.
As armed civilians, we were each given a card to carry in our wallets. The card stated, in fine print, that if captured by the enemy while carrying a weapon, we were entitled to claim rights as a 'prisoner of war.' The Army Air Corps military officer who commanded our unit said that, since we did not wear military uniforms, nor carry military identification tags, the card would have to do to certify us as 'combatants'. The statement on the card was supposed to keep us from being shot as spies in the event the enemy invaded the Hawaiian Islands.
During the war years, my fellow riggers and I fixed and packed thousands of man-carrying and cargo parachutes, and 1 and 6-man life rafts, and serviced many other types of life-saving and survival gear.
After the war, my job was changed. I was transferred to the office of the chief of maintenance production inspection where investigated and wrote reports on defects that had been found in Air Force equipment that were made by civilian contractors government entities during manufacture or repair. My job was to examine the evidence, and talk to mechanics and anybody else who knew how and why a defect or deficiency occurred. I wrote reports that described what was wrong so that specialists and engineers, who were thousands of miles distant, would understand the problem and solve it.
I worked at Hickam Field until April 1948, and then returned to the place where I had signed up when the war began. By then, the base had grown enormously, and was named Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. My field and depot-level experience in the maintenance and overhaul of personnel and cargo parachutes and aircraft emergency and survival gear qualified me for a 'supply requirements and distribution' position and I was reemployed by the Hqs Air Force Logistics Command Directorate of Supply in that capacity. The 'Korean War' was closing in from the horizon and I was soon deeply involved in meeting USAF urgent requirements for the Korean War and its potential consequences.
~~~
Question from a student and my reply:
Q. How did you get from fixing parachutes to writing reports about mistakes and defects?
A. I think my change in jobs came about because of what happened when I worked with parachutes and survival gear. It began in 1942, when large numbers of damaged parachutes were shipped from the Mainland to Hickam Field and other AirCorps bases in the Pacific. The parachutes had ripped and mildewed canopies, badly frayed suspension lines, rusted metal connectors, and the straps that secured the aircrew person in place, were so rotten that they came apart in our hands. Other types of survival gear that came to our shop from the Mainland had obvious defects, too: life rafts and life preservers did not inflate the way they should, escape-and-evasion kits were damaged or had been pilfered, and items that were vital to survival were missing. In many instances, medical kits tied to the parachute harness or in life raft compartments had been slashed open and pain relief syrettes were just 'gone.'
Before 1942, parachute canopies were made of silk or cotton cloth, and the harness, in which the parachutist is encased, was made of cotton webbing. Both silk and cotton are organic materials which can be seriously weakened when attacked by fungus and dampness. That's what had happened to the gear we were getting, much of it recently shipped. Often, the equipment was unsafe, and could not be fixed.
I complained to my supervisor about the quality of the parachutes and survival gear that we were getting from the Mainland, and he passed my complaints along to his supervisor. He told me to put my complaints in writing. I wrote reports that described the damage, and included photographs. The poor quality of the life-saving gear that had been sent to us, I wrote, added to the risk of an emergency bailout from a disabled airplane.
At work one day, I was called to my supervisor's office.
'Just got a phone call from the front office,' he said. 'You're to report immediately to Headquarters, Seventh Air Force. The soldier in the Jeep outside is waiting for you. He'll drive you there. Move.'
Sitting alongside the driver, I wondered what it was all about. The thought that I had made an error in my work made me nervous. Was I being called on the carpet because an injury, or worse, had happened, resulting from an improperly packed parachute?
At Seventh Air Force headquarters, a Colonel cleared me past the security guards and I followed him into an office that had a sign on the door. It read 'Major General White, Commander, Seventh Air Force.' Several men in uniform were standing near a desk at the far side of the room. A uniformed officer was seated behind the desk. In the middle of the room lay several packed parachutes in a heap.
The officer behind the desk, stood, came around, walked to and crouched next to the parachutes. He motioned me to get down beside him. On each of his shoulder tabs he wore a Major General's two stars.
'OK, son,' he said, 'show me the problem.'
My reports had received attention.
I separated the parachutes heaped on the floor. Did any among them include the damage I had reported? I checked the inspection log that accompanies each parachute. The dates showed that the parachutes had been recently inspected and packed at a stateside Air Corps base.
I stood, bent forward over one of the parachutes, and grasped one of its four straps; the strap is known as a 'riser', and it links the wearer to the suspension lines that lead to the canopy. The life of the jumper would depend on the strength of that riser.
Jerking the riser straight up as hard as I could, I shook it repeatedly against the twenty-five pound weight of the packed parachute. The sudden yanks and shakings were only a fraction of the shocks that the riser would get when the parachute's canopy snapped open.
The cords, of which the riser was made, separated, and several cords were shredded. Here was another case where dampness and rotting had weakened an emergency man-carrying parachute into dangerous uselessness. Yet, the parachute had been tagged as 'serviceable'.
The General studied the shredded strap and then glanced at me. 'Thanks, son,' he said. The Colonel, who had escorted me to the General's office, motioned to me and pointed at the door.
As I left, I heard the General say; 'I want a 'personal' on this to Hap Arnold.' General Arnold was the Commander of the Army Air Corps worldwide during World War II, and reported to the President of the United States.
I returned to my job. The quality of parachutes and other survival gear that arrived at Hickam Field from the Mainland quickly improved.
Serious defects in design, operating instructions supply, maintenance, and acquisition of aircraft and their components were also found in other types of equipment and methods used by the U S Air Force. When the fighting part of the war was over, I was assigned to a work group that gathered evidence from technicians, engineers and administrators on what was wrong and to write reports that went to engineers and managers at higher headquarters. They would do what was required to get the problems solved and, when appropriate, issue correcting technical instructions to the reporting field activity or USAF-wide.
In time, my experiences in gathering evidence and analyzing technical and administrative mistakes and deficiencies on the job led to
MEMOIR: FIXING AND PREVENTING MISTAKES IN THE WORKPLACE. Go to:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/9
~~~
References
For an overview of the parachute's history, design, and construction see:
http://www.parachutehistory.com/eng/d
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'Wikipedia' describes the parachute and how it works:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute
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About deceleration devices, parachutes and parafoils.
http://www.swe.org/iac/LP/para_02.html
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Parachute design and construction (
http://members.aol.com/ricnakk/par
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Paratroopers: 1950s: T-4, T-5, T-7, T-10
http://home.hiwaay.net/~magro/tchutes.h
~~
Parachutes and their uses:
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/k
~~~
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y
~~~~~~~~~~
4. MEMOIR: URGENT PROCUREMENT OF EMERGENCY 'BAILOUT' PARACHUTES FOR THE KOREAN WAR, HQS AIR FORCE LOGISTICS COMMAND, WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, 1950
A memoir about a decision I was required to make relevant to the day that the Korean War started and its context. The issue was an urgent priority for the acquisition of 50,000 aircrew emergency bailout parachutes for United States Air Force-NATO operations in Korea. Chronology and types of USAF aircraft operating in the Korean Theater at the time are based on personal recollections and occasional use of references available from public libraries and the Internet. See:
http://www.korean-war.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea
~
Introduction:
The technical design and operation of military man-carrying parachutes evolved rapidly after World War II, as did parachute servicing, packing and maintenance methodologies. The Korean War, five years after the end of WW II, began generally with WWII weapons and equipment, much of it overage and obsolescent. Where significant shortages of vital equipment existed or were otherwise considered certain to occur, urgent procurements were initiated, taking into account manufacture 'lead time' and supply and maintenance pipelines to the troops.
Decision
Rather than procure the 50,000 man-carrying parachutes as complete assemblies, e.g., in which the canopy's suspension lines are permanently linked to the harness and, through the harness, to the canopy container (pack), as in the past, the procurement I initiated in 1950 was by major components. The components would subsequently be assembled into standard types of complete parachutes by certified technicians at Air Force Materiel Command supply and maintenance depots or certified parachute maintenance shops to meet priority needs in Korea and other support activities.
Context
In 1949, the Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson cut back radically the Armed Forces' programs for weapons and support systems. The Korean War, in which the U S S R and Communist China openly supported and militarily joined North Korea against the United Nations, was launched the following year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_A._J
In the early '50s, Hqs AFMC had Command jurisdiction of 8 major industrial depots and at least an equal number of sub-depots and special activities throughout the continental U S and in foreign countries (Europe, Philippines, Japan, Middle East, North Africa, etc.)
For several years following the end of WWII and creation of a separate U. S. Air Force the logistical missions, organizations, and personnel policies for active duty military and civil service personnel experienced important changes in their management, location, and performance of functions. The changes were reflected in chain of command, consolidation and/or wholesale reassignment of materiel property classes, Hqs components and field organizations, transferring or eliminating low priority workloads and assuming new missions and industrial workloads.
Concurrently, the worldwide Cold War and its effects steadily increased in scope and intensity throughout Europe, Africa, and the Far East. Widespread and ongoing post-WW2 reductions-in-force among military and civil service personnel accompanied a nationwide conversion from war to civilian economies.
In 1950, shortly before US military action in Korea (see June 30, 1950 under Time Line), I was assigned to supervise several supply technicians. The primary function of my group was to determine USAF worldwide requirements and distribution for emergency survival equipment which included parachutes, aircrew emergency life preservers, emergency survival kits and their components, and other aircrew personal emergency gear for USAF-worldwide.
Parachutes in the possession of USAF field commands and in back-up supply warehouses at that time had been procured for WWII, which had ended 5 years previously. An unknown quantity of parachutes in warehouse storage had been declared excess to requirements or was close to their maximum authorized 'years in service since dates of manufacture' (the date of manufacture was stamped on the canopy). At the 'maximum' age of 7 years, personnel parachutes were, by USAF regulation, to be removed from further service for aircrew emergency bailout, although they could be used for cargo drops.
Computing quantities of serviceable parachutes and spare parts to be on hand for the USAF active and programmed aircraft inventory was made by type of parachute, e.g., seat, back or chest as applicable to aircraft types. Parachute selection depended on crewmember or passenger stations in the aircraft, space available in cockpit and cabin, access to and through emergency exits, and the aircrew member's weight, e.g., aircrew or passengers above a certain total weight (body weight plus flight clothing, emergency kit, flotation gear and the parachute) were entitled to a parachute that incorporated a larger diameter canopy.)
Based on type of aircraft and aircrew stations (or special circumstances) the harness of a 'quick attachable chest chute (QAC) might be the choice and the canopy pack hooked on to the harness before bailout.
Requirement computations for parachutes took into account quantities in service by type (back, seat, and chest), in the pipeline, and in back-up warehouse storage (serviceable and repairable). Information on quantity and condition of parachutes in storage was not reliable in the years immediately following the end of WWII.
Translating a requirement into acquisition called for justifying funds, ensuring that procurement and manufacturing specifications and tech data were current, and initiating and monitoring acquisition documents. New production parachutes from a commercial source received an acceptance inspection before being shipped to a USAF regional or property class depot or directly to the base supply activity where the requirement existed. There, the parachutes was scheduled to the base parachute shop (part of the Maintenance function) where it received an Air Force directed technical inspection, aired, pre-pack scrutiny, packed for service, a post- pack inspection, and returned to 'Supply' to complete the requisitioning transaction.
USAF parachutes procured from a commercial contractor (manufacturer) are normally shipped unpacked (that is, with the canopy rolled up loosely in the canopy container (pack) and the 4 webbing harness risers permanently connected to the canopy suspension lines by 4 stainless steel links; six suspension (shroud) lines tied and permanently stitched to each link. When suspension lines and harness webbing are so stitched, undoing the stitches weakens reliability at vital points; damaged suspension lines and harnesses must be replaced.
Upon requisition for a 'packed-for-service' parachute the Supply warehouse sends the (unpacked) parachute to a base maintenance parachute shop where it is inspected to ensure that all required parts are on hand and free from damage and defects, and current with latest technical and modification instructions. Normally, the parachute canopy is aired for at least 24 hours in a parachute loft, re-inspected by the certified rigger who will personally pack it for service. A security breakaway-thread and lead seal is pressed over a knot where the forward ripcord pin passes through the pack-closure flaps-retaining cone.
The servicing and packing log, which is marked with the same USAF serial number as the parachute pack and canopy, is signed by the rigger and inserted in a pocket on the pack assembly. The packed parachute is inspected externally by a certified inspector and/or supervisor and returned to supply as 'ready for service.' During WWII and on into the '50s USAF military and civil service certified parachute riggers accomplished these procedures.
~
Time Line
The following events on the Korean War time line had logistics implications.
-- 1948 April 8 - US troops ordered withdrawn from Korea on orders from President Harry S. Truman.
-- 1949 June 29 - Last US troops withdrawn from South Korea.
-- 1950 June 30 - President Truman orders US ground forces into Korea and authorizes the bombing of North Korea by the US Air Force. US troops are notified of their deployment to South Korea.
The morning following President Truman's order to the Armed Forces to initiate military action in Korea the military chief of the Hqs AFMC Equipment Division, Directorate of Supply, strode along the 'supervisors' row in the office where I worked. He was accompanied by my Branch Chief who was responsible for specified categories of military equipment and supplies, including those assigned to me. Pointing to each supervisor (or desk if it was unattended at the moment) the Division Chief briefly consulted with the Branch Chief, then read off a dollar amount from a spreadsheet he held in his hand. The dollar amount for my area of responsibility was $25 million -- as a starter.
Immediately upon the Division Chief's departure, the Branch Chief assembled his subordinate supervisors and directed that the $-amounts cited were mandatory totals for Purchase Requests (PRs) from each to be his office at the start of business the following day. He would review them and, upon his approval, have them hand-carried to the Division office. The Purchase Requests were to be for most urgently needed equipment and supplies to support current and 'programmed' USAF operations in Korea.
Priorities
My highest priorities for USAF in Korea were aircrew parachutes, aircraft emergency life preservers, aircrew emergency bailout survival kits (attached to parachute harnesses), oxygen masks, and components ('components,' for instance, took into account that inflatable life preservers are not much help to an aircrew member floating in the sea if the CO2 inflation cartridges had not been checked and installed or had been discharged for an unauthorized purpose. Life vest checklists directed that inflatable life vests would be examined by the wearer or a technician before donning to ensure that the mouth inflation tube connections and CO2 cartridges and emergency inflation levers were intact. It was not unusual to find that the CO2 cartridges were missing or the cartridge seals punctured.
Insofar as personnel parachutes were concerned, 'components' double-checked included ripcords (pins bent, pull cable for burrs or kinks), pilot chute spring action, harnesses, canopy containers (packs), seals on emergency kits, etc.
As combat operations intensified by US-UNCommnd forces in Korea the urgent need for parachutes, aircraft life preservers and other survival and escape-and-evasion gear increased. The United Nations Command (UNC) included the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Belgium, Greece, Canada and Thailand and other nations.
USAF aircraft in the Korean Theater included the P-51, F-80, F-82, F-86, B-29, KC-50, C-46, C-47, C-54, C-82, C-118, C-119 and C-121 and more. See a more complete list at:
http://www.korean-war.info/aircraf
The F-51 (Mustang) role in Korea was ground attack. The F-80 (Shooting Star) was the first operational American jet fighter and a major weapon system of the Korean War. The F-80 recorded the first USAF aerial victories in June 1950. The F-80's high accident rate in the early years of the war was attributed to pilots familiar with propeller-driven aircraft transitioning to the faster and more powerful jets. The F-80 was used for ground support after it was replaced by the F-86 in air superiority tactics.
In effect, the USAF was experiencing a major transition from relatively slow propeller-driven to much higher speed jet aircraft - in the middle of an intense air war. The transformation involved upgrade training for jet aircraft air and ground crews, line and support shops technicians were in practically OJT (on the job training), revamping test and maintenance facilities, acquiring and shipping maintenance new tools and equipment, skills, procedures, tech data, etc. Among these drastic and far-reaching changes, parachute compatibility with aircraft was one among thousands.
The new design B-8 backpack parachute applicable to F-86 and F-100 fighters had been standardized in 1944, however, to my recollection procurements had not, as yet, been initiated by the Property Class 13, in which personnel (bailout) parachutes were catalogued and from where Purchase Requests would be initiated. Procurement data existed. Here again, the problem might have been in coordinating acquisition lead-time for equipment to support the Korean War with the Executive Directive to initiate military action. Logistics had to catch up with reality.
The F-86 jet had entered service in 1949, about one year before the start of the Korean War. F-86s and other aircraft, as well as to support aircraft. Personal equipment, including parachutes and other survival gear was also provided to allied nations under Mutual Defense Assistance Programs (MDAP).
The total additional quantity required for USAF immediate needs in Korea and for other developing or programmed USAF operations worldwide was 50,000 parachutes plus spare parts. The U S was well along in its conversion and retooling to a civilian economy that would concentrate on meeting the pent-up needs of the populace. A one-shot relatively short-duration production program for a distant 'police action' did not represent a sound investment to industry.
Considering the time required by prime contractors to reactivate (actually to recreate) product lines, install manufacturing equipment plus acquisition of materials, parachute hardware, manufacturing tools and skills; acquire components through outsource or in-house-manufacture, and lead time to integrate production and assembly, and ship complete parachutes, etc., was much too long. It got down to how many of each type parachute (seat, back or chest) was most urgently needed, and how could we get the right types and number of parachutes to where they had to be. What was the mix of parachute types to be procured commercially, checked through the USAF internal quality assurance process, and shipped (packed or unpacked based on circumstances) to meet Korean Theater needs in a combat environment and rapid changes in the Theater's types of aircraft?
The parachute design engineers at the Wright Air Development Center (WADC) at adjacent Wright Field had, by that time, completed the development, test and evaluation phases of the new design Type B-8 back parachute and it had been judged 'Standard' and ready for an initial procurement action. Lead time for commercial acquisition of the B-8 to meet the Korean War's urgent priority was judged unacceptable in light of availability of tooling up, sub-contracting pipiline time, manufacturing the parachute fabric and hardware, and intergation of the components into a complete B-8 parachute. Acquiring the components separately, funneling them into the USAF depot system's fully equipped and staffed parachute shops with their professionally skilled riggers was considered appropriate and that option directed.
~~
A 'complete' parachute, as procured during WWII consisted of all of its components assembled and permanently connected to each other, except for the pilot parachute, ripcord, and 6 bungee/hook assemblies, all of which were installed by the rigger during the pack-for-service process. When the shroud lines, canopy and pilot 'chute are folded into the 'pack' (container) and the flaps brought up from the sides and over to enclose the canopy, the ripcord pins are inserted through holes in the cones that were brought up through grommets.
The bungee (elastic) cords are hooked to eyes along the packs frame so that they snap the flaps back when the ripcord is pulled to clear the way for the pilot 'chute to eject and draw the main canopy out to full extension. The ripcord cable is run a sleeve of which one end ferrule is fastened to the harness webbing and the other end to the pack side flap in line with the canopy release cones. When the ripcord is pulled, the direction of its withdrawal is from the canopy pack across the wearer's chest.
Based on my experience in parachutes and survival equipment maintenance generally I concluded the best approach would be for several contractors to provide USAF with canopies, harnesses and packs as components. Ripcords, pilot chutes, bungees, etc., could be procured independently from qualified sources and from the tens of thousands of each item that were still new in USAF supply warehouses, excess from WW2. The AFMC depot and/or operating wing's Supply function and Maintenance certified parachute riggers would take it from there and connect the canopies to the right harnesses and packs for the job, pack for service, and get the parachutes to where they were needed.
I initiated the Purchase Requests, and received quick coordination on technical accuracy of procurement data from the parachute engineers and Maintenance technical services. The Purchase Requests, to my knowledge, were approved by the oversight authorities.
Some time later, I was criticized by top management for my initiatives and notified (informally) that an 'action' against me was likely. As it turned out, I was 'transferred' to the Hqs AFMC Directorate of Maintenance to review draft Air Force specifications for 'maintainability' on new types of survival equipment for which procurement was planned, to analyze deficiencies reported from the field on aircrew emergency gear, and to write field maintenance manuals and technical orders.
About a year or so after my transfer from the Directorate of Supply the employee who took my former job told me, in the presence of my former staff, that my 'decision' for parachute procurement had been 'right.' I didn't ask for details.
~~~
5. MEMOIR: COLD WAR CONTINGENY PLANNING: NOUASSEUR AIR BASE, MOROCCO 1953-1956
The Cold War between the United States and the former USSR began in the mid-1940s and extended over the following half-century until the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990s. The Cold War's cost to the United States exceeded $8 trillion. More than 110,000 American military lives were lost on foreign soil in the major military conflicts of that era: Korea in the early 1950s and Viet Nam from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. Military personnel and civilians killed and wounded on both sides in those two wars and in other Cold War clashes between the US and the USSR and their allies, have been estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Introduction
From 1953 to 1956 I was a U. S. Air Force civilian employee at Nouasseur Air Base, about 20 miles southwest of Casablanca in what was then French Morocco. My job was in the Logistics Plans Office of the Nouasseur Air Depot.
The Air Depot was being built and staffed to serve as one of three major USAF-NATO logistics centers in the European-Med-North African-Middle East Theater in the event of war with the USSR. Each of the three depots would have a primary geographic area to serve with acquisition and distribution of supplies, repair and maintenance of aircraft and equipment, and conducting Military Assistance Programs.
In addition to Nouasseur Air Depot, the Burtonwood Air Depot, near Manchester UK, would support air forces in the UK and European Northern Tier countries, and the Chatereaux Air Depot in Chatereaux, France, about half way between Paris and Marseilles, would support the Central Tier which extended beyond the Northern Tier to the Mediterranean coast (overlapping somewhat with Nouasseur for Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Turkey). Nouasseur (Casablanca) had the Southern Tier, which included North Africa and on into the Middle East and countries along and in the Med and areas which were not within the Northern and Central Tiers.
As a Logistics Planner at Nouasseur, one of my projects was to prepare an element of U S Air Force Europe (USAFE) logistics plans to support the U S Strategic Air Command (SAC). The plan would organize, staff, equip, transport, test and evaluate, and (in the event of war) activate and deploy Mobile Maintenance Teams consisting of U S civil service volunteers. The teams would provide on-site emergency repairs sufficient to continue flights of US-NATO combat-damaged aircraft forced to land in the Middle East/North Africa on return flights from battle zones.
Strategic Air Command bombers and their direct support aircraft in the active and near-future inventory during the early-1950s included the B-47 Stratojet, a six-engine 4,000 mile range medium bomber which entered service in 1950; the B-52 Stratofortress, an eight-engine 8,000+ mile range heavy bomber scheduled to enter operations about 1955, and the C-97 Stratofreighter cargo and tanker versions with four piston-driven engines which had been in SAC fleet operations since about 1950; also late models B-50 and some older B-29s from World War Two.
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At the time, the public's apprehension of a worldwide conflagration including use of nuclear and other mass destruction weapons, sparked by a Cold War incident between US/NATO and the USSR, was considered to be high. The memory of World War Two was fresh in everyone's minds, and the U S confrontation with the USSR that brought on the Berlin Airlift, and its implications for the future, were, to many people, of the gravest portent. The Korean 'police action,' another outgrowth of stresses in the relationships between the USSR, Communist China and the U S, was winding down. 'Viet Nam' was on the horizon.
During much of the half century of the post-World War Two -Cold War era the US depended almost entirely on its own economic, military, industrial and human resources to defend NATO and its own far-flung lines. The international competition for country and regional security, resources to rebuild a devastated Europe, and control and administration of conquered territories created a massive arms race that affected the lives and destinies of people everywhere.
In the late-40s/early-50s the US-USSR conflicts of interests were at a critical stage. Intercontinental nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles were far past the drawing boards, their operational capabilities and effects in war had been carefully estimated and were understood.
The US doubled the number of its Air Force groups to ninety-five, and placed great importance on the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The number of SAC wings increased from 21 in 1950 to 37 in 1952. The growth of SAC air power arrayed US military capabilities and strategies to such concepts as massive retaliation and Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) by NATO should the USSR launch a pre-emptive attack in Europe.
American and NATO planners admitted, however, that neither massive retaliation nor MAD, by themselves, would stop a Soviet first strike and an invasion into Eastern and Central Europe and the Middle East. The USSR could count on huge reserves of its still young, combat-seasoned men under arms, pre-positioned war materiel still in prime combat condition, and relatively short lines of transport and communications.
I have no specific information that would verify the following on international negotiations other than publicly accessible media. Obviously, NATO and the US had to counter the potential of Soviet military offensive and defensive resources and capabilities during the early '50s -- less than a decade since the close of World War Two, and the US and its allies, Communist China, the USSR, and Korea already in a war on the Korean peninsula.
Operational ICBMs were still several years in the future. The B-52 bomber, itself, was still in the early stages of production and deployment. Strategic warfare against Soviet oil drilling, refining, storage, and pipeline facilities in the southwest USSR (Caspian Sea area) were expected to slow Soviet military momentum. For this and other reasons, and to support planned military operations throughout the Balkan, Middle East and Mediterranean, the US expanded and modernized its existing facilities to conduct air operations over the USSR southwestern regions.
NATO and the US built or otherwise secured ground, seaport, and air bases and/or implemented joint-use agreements with governments in the Mediterranean area in the event of a NATO-USSR conflict and, specifically relevant to this memoir, in Morocco, Libya, Turkey, and the Central and Eastern Mediterranean generally.
[French] Morocco
In the early 1950s, SAC was the major tenant on military airfields in Morocco: Ben Guerir and Sidi Slimane Air Bases in central Morocco, and Nouasseur Air Base in the desert about 25 kilometers south of the Morocco's dominant port Casablanca. Morocco had been a French protectorate since 1912, and thousands of French citizens and other Europeans had migrated to French and Spanish Morocco over the years and taken up residency. Large numbers of Moroccan, French and other European nationals were employed by the USAF at its bases and the US Navy's tenancy in Port Lyauty, and at other military installations where the U S and/or NATO had been granted French and Moroccan permission to do so.
Throughout the French occupation of Morocco a number of Moroccan nationalist groups formed in opposition to French domination, and they engaged increasingly in nationalist political and guerrilla resistance, including occasional bombings and other acts of violence. Sultan Mohammed V sided with the nationalists and was deposed in 1953. This further angered the Moroccan populace and in-country violence increased.
The Sultan returned from exile in 1955 and Morocco gained its independence some years later. Many French and Spanish citizens returned to their countries of origin. French military forces, business enterprises, and employment for the indigenous population in Morocco became uncertain, and so did the American military presence on Moroccan territory.
In the years that followed, the Libyan government also changed rulers, with the results that American use of Wheelus Field, for any purpose, was revoked. Nevertheless, context and circumstances in North Africa aside, USAF planning for support to SAC operations under general war conditions, and for a variety of military contingencies, continued; in its way, North Africa all along the Med, would likely experience a deja vu of its World War Two experiences, but caught in a nuclear exchange, probably worse.
(In World War Two, oil refineries, such as those in the Romanian Ploesti fields, were important but extremely costly targets. For instance, in one mission, of the 178 B-24s dispatched to bomb Ploesti, 52 were lost, and all but 35 aircraft suffered damage, one limping home after 14 hours and holed in 365 places. These Allied bombing missions originated in and returned to airfields in North Africa; many of the old landing strips, fuel storage, and maintenance shops previously used by German and Italian military occupiers and then by the Allies, were in poor condition, but they were there.)
Caspian Oil Refineries
Assume that, a US/NATO war with the Soviet Union would include strategic air attacks against Soviet oil wells, refineries and other industrial plants, storage facilities, and transport nets. If so, USSR facilities in the southwest USSR (the Caspian Sea area) would have been among the high priority targets.
That being so, planning for US/NATO aircraft to return from bombing runs over southwest USSR included the option to select routes over-flying Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Crete, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel, Egypt, and other countries throughout the Middle East, across and along the north and south coasts of the Mediterranean.
THE GAP
It was expected that among returning aircraft there would be those which had incurred severe battle damage. Battle-damaged, or marginally or entirely non-operational in flight for other reasons, the aircrews needed to be helped. Unable to remain airborne to reach an organized repair facility or any location where the airplane could be fixed sufficiently for continued flight that would get the aircrew to safety, the airplane 'fixer' had to 'reach out' to the airplane and the aircrew.
One option, to be implemented immediately upon USAFE, SAC, or NATO notice, was to deploy 'rapid area maintenance teams' comprised of U S civil service employees, along with their tool kits and air-transportable mobile power generators, todesignated locations along the SAC aircraft return routes where battle-damaged aircraft could be quickly fixed and serviced sufficiently to take off and keep going west, if not all the way, then at least to another location where another quick-fix and service could be rendered so as to extend the flight another step in the right direction. Repairs would be accomplished through use of anything from on-site fabricated bits-and-pieces to parts and assemblies cannibalized from wrecked aircraft.
The Plan
My assignment was to plan for, inspect potential fixit sites, work out and integrate the details, and prepare a supplement to the USAFE and SAC overall logistics support plans to close the gap. The tasks were to draft '...how to...' policy and procedural guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP); identify hands-on maintenance and supervisory skills that applied to aircraft in the current SAC operations inventory, and provide for their continuing compatibility with replacement weapons and support systems as they became operational in the theater, identify by skill, name and location committed US civil service technicians and staff currently on duty at a depot, identify U S personnel policies which would need adjustment to the anticipated circumstances and initiate administrative actions to initiate policy changes.
From there, I went on to provide for updating manpower resources to anticipated skills requirements, identify and set in motion urgent-immediate procedures to acquire (by standard practices or otherwise) relevant and current manuals and tech data, general and special hand tools, etc. Get a training plan into operation for the program applicable to maintenance team skills, team crew chiefs, and on-site and regional supervisors.
Maintain a current team member notification system, and ongoing liaison with Hqs USAFE to acquire opportune air transportation from selected pick-up points for Mobile Maintenance Teams and drop-off at forward area emergency work sites. Put it all together, get staff and command approval in principle at Nouasseur, take the draft to Weisbaden (Lindsey Air Base) and get staff preliminary sign-off by Hqs Air Material Force European Area (AMFEA) and Hqs United States Air Force Europe (USAFE). Following that, get the coordination of the Directors of Maintenance and the Commanders at Burtonwood Air Depot UK and Chatereaux Air Depot France (Burtonwood and Chatereaux depots' manpower, tools, and other resources were to be committed to the program, hence their being in the loop for sign-off.)
With that done, I could come home, re-cycle, integrate, and send the package off to Hqs SAC, Offutt AFB, Oklahoma and give them a crack at it.
Along the way, get with SAC and other (unidentified) intelligence types and check the lay of the land from Morocco east to Turkey.
Deployment
The three Directors of Maintenance at Nouasseur (Morocco), Chatereaux (France) and (Burtonwood) UK assemble personnel committed to Program, and using the previously authorized priorities request Base Commanders for opportune airlift to move skills, tools, supplies, tech data, etc., to the Program's initial team assembly point in a specified maintenance hangar at Wheelus Field, Libya.
At Wheelus, the program manager (a Nouasseur Air Depot military officer and staff) shuffle and combine the physically present skills, tools, etc., so that teams and their kits are formed, organized, equipped, and ready to move according to requirements and priorities at each forward site where maintenance teams are needed. By air, sea or land transport get the teams to their assigned stations, each Civil Service employee equipped with personal gear adequate for survival under the anticipated wartime conditions. Use designated transportation and other support priority, when essential to the mission.
That, generally, was how it was supposed to work, at least in theory. But we knew better. The reality was that as soon as the nuclear threshold was crossed, which was highly probable, a US-NATO-USSR war wouldn't last more than a couple of days - if that.
The plan was one of several that I drafted while at Nouasseur and at other places in those early days of the Cold War. Many personal anecdotes, from the deeply sad and poignant to the trivial and absurd, have been written about World War Two, Korea, Viet Nam, and the other confrontations between the U S and the Soviets, but the Cold War in as many of its facets as possible, needs to be written about, including memoirs such as this, and they should be entered into the nation's lore so that students will see their many perspectives.
Almost two years were spent in working out, drafting and coordinating the details of this SAC support plan. Would it have worked if and when the need arose? Were contingency plans devised for other options? I don't know. Forward area emergency maintenance (Rapid Area Maintenance - RAM) teams that were much further advanced and detailed, yet comparable in concept to the SAC support plan I worked on in Morocco, were used extensively in the Viet Nam War.
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6. MEMOIR and FUTURE HISTORY: SPACEFARING SOCIETIES, INEXHAUSTIBLE NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES, AND LOGISTICS, McClellan Air Force Base, California, 1961 and afterwards. Go to:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/4
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7. MEMOIR: MILITARY-CIVILIAN TEAMWORK IN SUICIDE PREVENTION, 'VIET NAM' YEARS AND AFTERWARDS (MCCLELLAN AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA, 1969. GO TO:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/8
8. MEMOIR: FIXING AND PREVENTING MISTAKES IN THE WORKPLACE. Go to:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/9
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Meyer Moldeven
About the author
United States government logistician with the US Air Force from 1941 until retirement in 1974. Senior emergency survival gear maintenance technician (parachutes, life rafts, escape and evasion gear) at the Hawaiian Air Depot (WW2); developed USAF maintenance and operations manuals at Wright Field (1949-1952); transferred to a USAF North African base and developed logistics plans for (future) emergency support to disabled US/NATO aircraft landing along the North African-Med coasts in the event of a WW3 (1951-1953); during U. S. post-Sputnik initiatives to create a national space program was member of a USAF Log Command team that critiqued aerospace industries' pre-program definition (conceptual) proposals for space systems organization, infrastructure and support (Space Logistics, Operations, Maintenance and Rescue' (Project SLOMAR); during 'Viet Nam' was civilian deputy to the IG McClellan AFB, Calif. a USAF major logistics center near Sacramento, California.
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CONTENTS
1. Preface: Logistics
2. Introduction: We Learn From Each Other
3. Memoir: Survival Equipment Maintenance Technician: World War Two: Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. 1942-1948
4. Memoir: Urgent Procurement of Aircrew Bailout Parachutes and other Emergency Survival Gear to Meet U. S. Air Force Priority Needs for the Korean War, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. 1950
5. Memoir: Cold War Contingency Planning: Nouasseur Air Base, Morocco 1952-1955
6. Future History: Spacefaring Societies, Inexhaustible Nonrenewable Resources, and Logistics, McClellan Air Force Base, California, 1961, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/4
7. Memoir: Military-Civilian Teamwork In Suicide Prevention, 'Viet Nam' Years, McClellan Air Force Base, California, 1969 and Afterwards, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/8
8. Checklist and Memoir: Fix And Prevent Mistakes and Deficiencies in the Workplace, at:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/9
~~~
1. PREFACE Logistics: (military definition) The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces.... those aspects of military operations that deal with the design and development, acquisition, storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation and disposition of material; movement, evacuation, and hospitalization of personnel; acquisition of construction, maintenance, operation and disposition of facilities; and acquisition of furnishing of services. (Joint Chiefs of Staff Publication 1-02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms]
2. INTRODUCTION Lore adapts to altered circumstances and lifestyles, and to cultures and environments other than the times and places where the 'lore' had its roots. The familiar may be comfortable, but we also read and listen for other perspectives that disclose events and experiences grown dim over the decades, and in time, of generations and centuries past.
Memoirs and often just storytelling a civilization's and a culture's traditions, values, 'how to... guidance, and even opportunities to inject a sense of history and visions of a future. In doing so, their mix provides context to interactions among the family's constituents and continuity to their societies and communities. Excessively redundant, they might appear as frayed platitudes. Yet, throughout all civilizations a people's traditions, values and suggestions retain their relevancy and often, their majesty.
Tradition passes history to a new generation on what happened to family and community across time, and, to the extent possible, the reasons and the lessons. Elders' stories and lore convey facts and interpretations about customs, events and personalities and how they became part of the whole. Tradition supports the family's and the society's sense of continuity.
Social and cultural awareness offers sanctuary to education, law enforcement, science, sports, health care, religion, and more. Together, they form a collection of interacting primary forces that drive a civilization's evolution in concepts, principles and methodologies that societies utilize to make life possible and livable. Awareness includes what is wrong with the way things are, as well as what is right.
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3. MEMOIR: SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN, WORLD WAR II, HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, HAWAII 1942-1948
Several years after I retired from my Civil Service career after 34 years with the U. S. Air Force Logistics Command I was one of several addressees on an email from a teacher at a middle school in a northeastern state. She wrote that her students were working on a class project about the United States involvement in World War II and invited memoirs from older Americans who had lived through those times. The students wanted to learn directly from those who had served in the nation's wartime Armed Forces and Merchant Marine, as well as from civilians on the home front who had produced, serviced, and transported weapons and supplies from where they were made to where they were used. They also wanted to hear from people who cared for the wounded and helped in other ways.
The teacher added a note that memoirs received had generated questions among the students. The result was a Q&A exchange conducted in follow-up email communications. At the project's conclusion, the students' teacher reported to the online community that the project had been a great success: the students learned history from those who had lived it. The storytellers, many of whom were long retired, had an audience for reminiscences that might not otherwise have surfaced. Together with the students, they had created a bridge from the 1940s to the 1990s and, in doing so, had contributed to the historical records of an important era in American history. The experience enhanced communications and respect across the generations.
I wrote to the students about my work as a parachute rigger and survival equipment technician during the war. To set the stage, I described the parachute's purpose: to lower a weight, that is, a person or a cargo, slowly and safely from a place high above the Earth's surface to a place on the ground. In time of war, the one-way trip down might be aircrews that were forced to abandon their airplanes because the craft could no longer remain airborne.
During World War II, tens of thousands of airborne soldiers parachuted from transport aircraft and gliders with their weapons as part of military operations. Almost equally in numbers, cargo parachutes lowered food, weapons, and other essential supplies and equipment to the fighting forces and to isolated civilian communities. Parachutes also have a wide range of uses in peacetime, such as emergency egress from disabled aircraft and other airborne systems, slowing an aircraft or space shuttle on a runway after a high-speed landing, sport parachuting, 'fire jumpers' fighting forest fires, rescues in terrain that lack easier access, and more.
Parachutes must work the first time; there are very few second chances.
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In September 1941 I was a civilian parachute rigger for the Air Service Command at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio. My job was to repair and service-pack personnel and cargo parachutes for United States Army Air Corps aircrews, Army Airborne troops in training, and American and friendly foreign nations' special operations in which the United States was involved at that time in various parts of the world.
The months from September through November of 1941 were busy in the parachute shop at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio where I worked as a rigger. The conflict, even in its early stage, had already swept across Europe and on fronts in Asiaand Africa. The United States Army and Navy accelerated their training programs, and Americans were active in various capacities in the war zones of other nations. The parachute shop, as were other industrial facilities at Patterson Field, and dozens of other military installations throughout the United States, was on a round-the-clock seven-day workweek.
Parachutes requiring periodic servicing or tech order modification, or were damaged, were brought to our shop in large quantities from United States training bases and overseas theaters of operations. Military parachutes in general use by the Army Air Corps at the time were the 'ripcord' deployed Type S-1, a 24-foot diameter canopy seat type; Type S-2, a 28 foot diameter canopy seat type; the B-7, a 24 foot diameter canopy back type; and the A-1 quick-attachable (QAC) chest type. Seat, back and chest parachute canopies were deployed by a pilot chute that ejected from the pack (canopy container) when the ripcord was pulled free, drawing the canopy to full extension when the jumper pulled the ripcord attached to the parachute harness. The chest type A-1 ripcord was attached to the canopy pack (container).
In all of the above parachute types, the ripcord cable, at the end opposite the 'pull' grip, has two pins installed, one behind but clear of the other. Each pin fits into a hole through a shaped cone that is fastened to the inner closing flap and protrudes up through grommets on the outer, inner, and side flaps. Pulling the ripcord releases all flaps simultaneously, and they are instantly drawn back by bungee cords, uncovering the canopy and freeing the spring-loaded pilot chute that draws the canopy free of the pack and extends it to its full length.
The types T-4 and T-5 28 foot diameter canopy back types were in use almost entirely for training Army airborne troops for mass jumps as paratroops. The canopies of the T-types were deployed by a 'breakaway' cord and lanyard that links the back-packed canopy at its apex to a stressed overhead cable along the troop carrier's interior ending above the egress door.
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Often, the parachutes that arrived in our shop for repair and modification had harnesses, which are wrapped around the jumpers to lower them safely, were shredded, canopies ripped and pack containers and emergency survival attachments were scorched and gory. I was in a crew that fixed and packed personnel parachutes, and then drop-tested a number of them selected at random by the shop foreman from each two or three hundred that had been processed for major repairs.
The drop test consisted of attaching one end of a lanyard to the ripcord handle of a service-packed parachute to a 120-pound weight or canvas-covered dummy, loading the weights or dummies into a C-47 airplane, and connecting the free end of the 30 lanyard to a cable stretched taut above the airplane egress door. The door was lashed open. Each of the two men on the test crew wore a back type parachute secured to the airplane frame by a strong webbing belt so that they would not accidentally fall from the aircraft.
The pilot took off and circled the field at about a thousand feet. Approaching the drop zone, the co-pilot flashed a red warning light above the door where the parachute handlers were stationed. At the next signal (green) the handlers, one on each side of drop load, heaved the weight out the door. The lanyard, reaching full length , pulled the ripcord, and the canopy deployed, opened, inflated, and descended. The ground crew tracked the drift of the descending parachute to where it would most likely touch ground and run in that direction.
Ground crew work is not dull. I remember how we would spread out, and watch the dummy as it fell. As soon as we got a fix on where the parachute would land, we'd head for it, haul in one of the 'risers' to spill air from the canopy, and get it all together with the least possible damage to the parachute and to ourselves.
There were times, even on a relatively calm day, when a gust would pass across the field and re-inflate the canopy before we got to it. A partially inflated canopy in a gentle breeze can drag a heavy dummy and parachute along the ground faster than ground handlers can run.
I'll always remember chasing a parachute and its weighted load that a sudden gust dragged, rolled, twisted, and bounced along in a field we were using for the drop zone. Finally, I caught up, and grabbed and hauled back on the risers. I managed to spill enough air to deflate the canopy. Controlling an about 120 pound dummy that's is being tossed around by a breeze can be a bit bruising.
Back at the shop after the tests, we inspected every part and surface of the parachute closely to see how well it had been repaired. At one time, apprentice parachute riggers were not certified until they jump-tested a parachute that they, themselves, had inspected, repaired and packed. Jump certification by riggers was suspended because of the enormously increased workload.
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On Sunday, December 7, 1941, I was working the night shift in the Parachute Shop. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that morning was being reported on the radio in almost continuous news flashes. About an hour after the work shift began, our supervisor instructed all male parachute riggers to go immediately to the aircraft maintenance main hangar nearby. Several hundred men from aircraft and aircraft systems repair shops, and other shops on the air base, were already there. They were milling about; I joined them and wondered why we had been called together.
A military officer climbed to the platform at the top of an aircraft maintenance stand. Drawing attention by rapping on the stand's railing with a metal object, he told us that the Air Corps needed skilled workers and supervisors immediately at Hickam Field in Hawaii. Whoever wanted to go, he said, should raise his arm and his name would be placed on a list.
I happened to be single, footloose and fancy-free at the time, and my arm got caught in the updraft. We were told to stand by, and the others instructed to return to their shops. Those of us, who stayed, lined up, and our names, badge numbers, and job titles were entered on a list. Each of us was given an instruction sheet.
The next morning, following the instructions, I reported to the dispensary for vaccinations and immunization shots in both arms, and then to the Personnel Office to sign papers that came at me from all directions. I had a week to get my affairs in order; after that I would be on stand-by for departure. A week later, along with several hundred other volunteer workers, I boarded a train on a siding next to a warehouse, and was on my way west.
The train, with all windows covered by blackout curtains, left Patterson Field, Dayton, Ohio, in the dead of night, and arrived three days later at Moffett Field near Mountain View, California. Disembarked, we lined up for bedrolls, and were pointed toward rows of tents in a muddy field adjacent a dirigible hangar. An instruction sheet, tacked to the tent's center pole, told us where the mess halls were located, and the meals schedule by tent number.
More trains arrived the next day and the day following. Hundreds of civilian workers joined us in the tents waiting for the next leg of our journey. We quickly got to know each other; we had come from all across the country: New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia, Alabama and Texas, Utah and California. The Air Corps bases at which we had signed up were Griffis and Olmstead, Patterson and Robbins, Brookley and Kelly, and Hill and McClellan. We were the vanguard,ready to move out with little or no advance notice.
Except for a carry-on bag, with a change of clothing and personal items, our luggage had gone directly into the ship's hold.
Days passed. The 'alert' came one night at 2 AM. Voices shouted along the lines of tents, 'This is it, you guys. Movin' out. One hour.'
In a torrential downpour, we slogged through ankle-deep mud and climbed into the backs of canvas-covered trucks. Flaps down, escorted by armed military guards in Jeeps, all of the trucks were blacked out except for dim lights gleaming through slits in their headlights. We formed up as a miles-long convoy rolling north along U.S. 101 from Moffett Field, and arrived, shortly before dawn, at Fort Mason, adjacent Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The trucks filled the pier from end to end; a gangway led up to the deck of a ship alongside. We learned later that she was the U.S. Grant, a World War I troop transport.
Herded below deck, we jammed into compartments where the narrow bunks were five high along aisles barely wide enough for passing. A 'Now, here this... .' over the loudspeaker restricted all passengers to their compartments, and to passageways only when necessary, until we were out of the harbor. We were to have our life preservers with us at all times.
Hours later, the ship's vibration, a back-and-forth shifting in my center of gravity, and creaking along the bulkheads, told me we were under way. Scuttlebutt was that we were in a convoy, escorted by destroyers. Enemy submarines were suspected to be in the area.
We took turns, by compartment number, going on deck. On our way to Honolulu, the convoy zigzagged frequently to minimize the success of an enemy air or submarine attack. Finally, on the fifth day, land appeared on the horizon and, shortly afterward, we saw Diamond Head. Our ship left the convoy and entered Honolulu harbor.
We docked and disembarked, under heavy military guard, at the Aloha Tower pier and boarded the Toonerville Trolley, as we got to know the train on Oahu's narrow gage railway. An hour later, we were at Hickam Field.
The devastation was appalling. Burned-out hulks of bombed aircraft were scattered about on parking aprons, and huge accumulations of debris lay next to aircraft hangars and along the roadways. The roofs of military barracks hung down along the outsides of the structures; they had exploded up and outward over the walls.
As a senior technician, I was assigned to the recovery and repair of damaged parachutes, life rafts, inflatable life preservers, oxygen masks, and the escape-and-evasion kits that air crews relied on when they bailed out over enemy territory. (Note: 'Survival' and 'escape and evasion' kits from (I assume) the South Pacific, Alaska, and China-Burma-India theaters began to arrive at our parachute shop in late 1942 for parachute maintenance, conduct tech order modifications, as required, http://www.bloodchit.com/ replace/refresh kit items and controlled return to the source activity.
The B-7 back type parachute, the 'standard' at the beginning of the Second World War, had a pad of about 2 inches thick of a spungy or foam-like substance encased in a zippered pad installed to serve as a cushion between the parachute wearer and the harness diagonal back straps.
A number of B-7s had been altered to create cutouts about half way through the pad and formed to accommodate shaped packets of medical items, rope, knife, survival guide, blood chit, socks, writing materials and, in a few instances a machine pistol. A sealed medical packet (tourniquet, bandage and pain relief syrette) was also tied to the parachute harness. Looking back now, I believe that these survival guides and kits are among the earliest escape-and-evasion used in WW2, forerunners those that evolved for the current SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) kits, see:
http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/shared/m
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http://www.bloodchit.com/
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http://cbi-theater-4.home.comcast.n
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The B-7s, when their survival kits were attached, were usually delivered to our shop by an officer or an aircraft crew chief. At other times, I (as senior rigger) was phoned by my contact in the Supply Division (Supervisor of Property Class 13) to stand by for delivery of a controlled parachute. Upon receipt, the parachute was aired, inspected, cleaned to the extent possible, suspect parts and assemblies replaced and Tech Order special inspections and modifications accomplished. Parachutes with overage canopies were replaced; dates of manufacture are stamped on the canopies of all personnel parachutes.
The newly inspected and packed parachute, the checked back pad/survival kit, zipper closed and sealed by a clinched lead seal, the Form 46 parachute log 'signed off' by the journeyman and checked by senior rigger, were returned to the Depot Supply supervisor or, per instructions, to a named person or the crew chief of a specific tail number airplane.
~
Many of civilian employees of the Hawaiian Air Depot joined Hickam Field's armed civilians, officially titled the Hawaiian Air Depot Volunteer Corps. We were a group of employees who, during non-duty hours, trained to handle and fire a rifle and a pistol, and guarded locations at night where high security was needed. We were armed with '03 Enfield rifles and, at night, patrolled aircraft maintenance hangers, warehouses, instrument repair shops, and an engine repair line at Wheeler Field, near Wahiawa in the Oahu highlands.
As armed civilians, we were each given a card to carry in our wallets. The card stated, in fine print, that if captured by the enemy while carrying a weapon, we were entitled to claim rights as a 'prisoner of war.' The Army Air Corps military officer who commanded our unit said that, since we did not wear military uniforms, nor carry military identification tags, the card would have to do to certify us as 'combatants'. The statement on the card was supposed to keep us from being shot as spies in the event the enemy invaded the Hawaiian Islands.
During the war years, my fellow riggers and I fixed and packed thousands of man-carrying and cargo parachutes, and 1 and 6-man life rafts, and serviced many other types of life-saving and survival gear.
After the war, my job was changed. I was transferred to the office of the chief of maintenance production inspection where investigated and wrote reports on defects that had been found in Air Force equipment that were made by civilian contractors government entities during manufacture or repair. My job was to examine the evidence, and talk to mechanics and anybody else who knew how and why a defect or deficiency occurred. I wrote reports that described what was wrong so that specialists and engineers, who were thousands of miles distant, would understand the problem and solve it.
I worked at Hickam Field until April 1948, and then returned to the place where I had signed up when the war began. By then, the base had grown enormously, and was named Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. My field and depot-level experience in the maintenance and overhaul of personnel and cargo parachutes and aircraft emergency and survival gear qualified me for a 'supply requirements and distribution' position and I was reemployed by the Hqs Air Force Logistics Command Directorate of Supply in that capacity. The 'Korean War' was closing in from the horizon and I was soon deeply involved in meeting USAF urgent requirements for the Korean War and its potential consequences.
~~~
Question from a student and my reply:
Q. How did you get from fixing parachutes to writing reports about mistakes and defects?
A. I think my change in jobs came about because of what happened when I worked with parachutes and survival gear. It began in 1942, when large numbers of damaged parachutes were shipped from the Mainland to Hickam Field and other AirCorps bases in the Pacific. The parachutes had ripped and mildewed canopies, badly frayed suspension lines, rusted metal connectors, and the straps that secured the aircrew person in place, were so rotten that they came apart in our hands. Other types of survival gear that came to our shop from the Mainland had obvious defects, too: life rafts and life preservers did not inflate the way they should, escape-and-evasion kits were damaged or had been pilfered, and items that were vital to survival were missing. In many instances, medical kits tied to the parachute harness or in life raft compartments had been slashed open and pain relief syrettes were just 'gone.'
Before 1942, parachute canopies were made of silk or cotton cloth, and the harness, in which the parachutist is encased, was made of cotton webbing. Both silk and cotton are organic materials which can be seriously weakened when attacked by fungus and dampness. That's what had happened to the gear we were getting, much of it recently shipped. Often, the equipment was unsafe, and could not be fixed.
I complained to my supervisor about the quality of the parachutes and survival gear that we were getting from the Mainland, and he passed my complaints along to his supervisor. He told me to put my complaints in writing. I wrote reports that described the damage, and included photographs. The poor quality of the life-saving gear that had been sent to us, I wrote, added to the risk of an emergency bailout from a disabled airplane.
At work one day, I was called to my supervisor's office.
'Just got a phone call from the front office,' he said. 'You're to report immediately to Headquarters, Seventh Air Force. The soldier in the Jeep outside is waiting for you. He'll drive you there. Move.'
Sitting alongside the driver, I wondered what it was all about. The thought that I had made an error in my work made me nervous. Was I being called on the carpet because an injury, or worse, had happened, resulting from an improperly packed parachute?
At Seventh Air Force headquarters, a Colonel cleared me past the security guards and I followed him into an office that had a sign on the door. It read 'Major General White, Commander, Seventh Air Force.' Several men in uniform were standing near a desk at the far side of the room. A uniformed officer was seated behind the desk. In the middle of the room lay several packed parachutes in a heap.
The officer behind the desk, stood, came around, walked to and crouched next to the parachutes. He motioned me to get down beside him. On each of his shoulder tabs he wore a Major General's two stars.
'OK, son,' he said, 'show me the problem.'
My reports had received attention.
I separated the parachutes heaped on the floor. Did any among them include the damage I had reported? I checked the inspection log that accompanies each parachute. The dates showed that the parachutes had been recently inspected and packed at a stateside Air Corps base.
I stood, bent forward over one of the parachutes, and grasped one of its four straps; the strap is known as a 'riser', and it links the wearer to the suspension lines that lead to the canopy. The life of the jumper would depend on the strength of that riser.
Jerking the riser straight up as hard as I could, I shook it repeatedly against the twenty-five pound weight of the packed parachute. The sudden yanks and shakings were only a fraction of the shocks that the riser would get when the parachute's canopy snapped open.
The cords, of which the riser was made, separated, and several cords were shredded. Here was another case where dampness and rotting had weakened an emergency man-carrying parachute into dangerous uselessness. Yet, the parachute had been tagged as 'serviceable'.
The General studied the shredded strap and then glanced at me. 'Thanks, son,' he said. The Colonel, who had escorted me to the General's office, motioned to me and pointed at the door.
As I left, I heard the General say; 'I want a 'personal' on this to Hap Arnold.' General Arnold was the Commander of the Army Air Corps worldwide during World War II, and reported to the President of the United States.
I returned to my job. The quality of parachutes and other survival gear that arrived at Hickam Field from the Mainland quickly improved.
Serious defects in design, operating instructions supply, maintenance, and acquisition of aircraft and their components were also found in other types of equipment and methods used by the U S Air Force. When the fighting part of the war was over, I was assigned to a work group that gathered evidence from technicians, engineers and administrators on what was wrong and to write reports that went to engineers and managers at higher headquarters. They would do what was required to get the problems solved and, when appropriate, issue correcting technical instructions to the reporting field activity or USAF-wide.
In time, my experiences in gathering evidence and analyzing technical and administrative mistakes and deficiencies on the job led to
MEMOIR: FIXING AND PREVENTING MISTAKES IN THE WORKPLACE. Go to:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/9
~~~
References
For an overview of the parachute's history, design, and construction see:
http://www.parachutehistory.com/eng/d
~
'Wikipedia' describes the parachute and how it works:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute
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About deceleration devices, parachutes and parafoils.
http://www.swe.org/iac/LP/para_02.html
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Parachute design and construction (
http://members.aol.com/ricnakk/par
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Paratroopers: 1950s: T-4, T-5, T-7, T-10
http://home.hiwaay.net/~magro/tchutes.h
~~
Parachutes and their uses:
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/k
~~~
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y
~~~~~~~~~~
4. MEMOIR: URGENT PROCUREMENT OF EMERGENCY 'BAILOUT' PARACHUTES FOR THE KOREAN WAR, HQS AIR FORCE LOGISTICS COMMAND, WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, 1950
A memoir about a decision I was required to make relevant to the day that the Korean War started and its context. The issue was an urgent priority for the acquisition of 50,000 aircrew emergency bailout parachutes for United States Air Force-NATO operations in Korea. Chronology and types of USAF aircraft operating in the Korean Theater at the time are based on personal recollections and occasional use of references available from public libraries and the Internet. See:
http://www.korean-war.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea
~
Introduction:
The technical design and operation of military man-carrying parachutes evolved rapidly after World War II, as did parachute servicing, packing and maintenance methodologies. The Korean War, five years after the end of WW II, began generally with WWII weapons and equipment, much of it overage and obsolescent. Where significant shortages of vital equipment existed or were otherwise considered certain to occur, urgent procurements were initiated, taking into account manufacture 'lead time' and supply and maintenance pipelines to the troops.
Decision
Rather than procure the 50,000 man-carrying parachutes as complete assemblies, e.g., in which the canopy's suspension lines are permanently linked to the harness and, through the harness, to the canopy container (pack), as in the past, the procurement I initiated in 1950 was by major components. The components would subsequently be assembled into standard types of complete parachutes by certified technicians at Air Force Materiel Command supply and maintenance depots or certified parachute maintenance shops to meet priority needs in Korea and other support activities.
Context
In 1949, the Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson cut back radically the Armed Forces' programs for weapons and support systems. The Korean War, in which the U S S R and Communist China openly supported and militarily joined North Korea against the United Nations, was launched the following year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_A._J
In the early '50s, Hqs AFMC had Command jurisdiction of 8 major industrial depots and at least an equal number of sub-depots and special activities throughout the continental U S and in foreign countries (Europe, Philippines, Japan, Middle East, North Africa, etc.)
For several years following the end of WWII and creation of a separate U. S. Air Force the logistical missions, organizations, and personnel policies for active duty military and civil service personnel experienced important changes in their management, location, and performance of functions. The changes were reflected in chain of command, consolidation and/or wholesale reassignment of materiel property classes, Hqs components and field organizations, transferring or eliminating low priority workloads and assuming new missions and industrial workloads.
Concurrently, the worldwide Cold War and its effects steadily increased in scope and intensity throughout Europe, Africa, and the Far East. Widespread and ongoing post-WW2 reductions-in-force among military and civil service personnel accompanied a nationwide conversion from war to civilian economies.
In 1950, shortly before US military action in Korea (see June 30, 1950 under Time Line), I was assigned to supervise several supply technicians. The primary function of my group was to determine USAF worldwide requirements and distribution for emergency survival equipment which included parachutes, aircrew emergency life preservers, emergency survival kits and their components, and other aircrew personal emergency gear for USAF-worldwide.
Parachutes in the possession of USAF field commands and in back-up supply warehouses at that time had been procured for WWII, which had ended 5 years previously. An unknown quantity of parachutes in warehouse storage had been declared excess to requirements or was close to their maximum authorized 'years in service since dates of manufacture' (the date of manufacture was stamped on the canopy). At the 'maximum' age of 7 years, personnel parachutes were, by USAF regulation, to be removed from further service for aircrew emergency bailout, although they could be used for cargo drops.
Computing quantities of serviceable parachutes and spare parts to be on hand for the USAF active and programmed aircraft inventory was made by type of parachute, e.g., seat, back or chest as applicable to aircraft types. Parachute selection depended on crewmember or passenger stations in the aircraft, space available in cockpit and cabin, access to and through emergency exits, and the aircrew member's weight, e.g., aircrew or passengers above a certain total weight (body weight plus flight clothing, emergency kit, flotation gear and the parachute) were entitled to a parachute that incorporated a larger diameter canopy.)
Based on type of aircraft and aircrew stations (or special circumstances) the harness of a 'quick attachable chest chute (QAC) might be the choice and the canopy pack hooked on to the harness before bailout.
Requirement computations for parachutes took into account quantities in service by type (back, seat, and chest), in the pipeline, and in back-up warehouse storage (serviceable and repairable). Information on quantity and condition of parachutes in storage was not reliable in the years immediately following the end of WWII.
Translating a requirement into acquisition called for justifying funds, ensuring that procurement and manufacturing specifications and tech data were current, and initiating and monitoring acquisition documents. New production parachutes from a commercial source received an acceptance inspection before being shipped to a USAF regional or property class depot or directly to the base supply activity where the requirement existed. There, the parachutes was scheduled to the base parachute shop (part of the Maintenance function) where it received an Air Force directed technical inspection, aired, pre-pack scrutiny, packed for service, a post- pack inspection, and returned to 'Supply' to complete the requisitioning transaction.
USAF parachutes procured from a commercial contractor (manufacturer) are normally shipped unpacked (that is, with the canopy rolled up loosely in the canopy container (pack) and the 4 webbing harness risers permanently connected to the canopy suspension lines by 4 stainless steel links; six suspension (shroud) lines tied and permanently stitched to each link. When suspension lines and harness webbing are so stitched, undoing the stitches weakens reliability at vital points; damaged suspension lines and harnesses must be replaced.
Upon requisition for a 'packed-for-service' parachute the Supply warehouse sends the (unpacked) parachute to a base maintenance parachute shop where it is inspected to ensure that all required parts are on hand and free from damage and defects, and current with latest technical and modification instructions. Normally, the parachute canopy is aired for at least 24 hours in a parachute loft, re-inspected by the certified rigger who will personally pack it for service. A security breakaway-thread and lead seal is pressed over a knot where the forward ripcord pin passes through the pack-closure flaps-retaining cone.
The servicing and packing log, which is marked with the same USAF serial number as the parachute pack and canopy, is signed by the rigger and inserted in a pocket on the pack assembly. The packed parachute is inspected externally by a certified inspector and/or supervisor and returned to supply as 'ready for service.' During WWII and on into the '50s USAF military and civil service certified parachute riggers accomplished these procedures.
~
Time Line
The following events on the Korean War time line had logistics implications.
-- 1948 April 8 - US troops ordered withdrawn from Korea on orders from President Harry S. Truman.
-- 1949 June 29 - Last US troops withdrawn from South Korea.
-- 1950 June 30 - President Truman orders US ground forces into Korea and authorizes the bombing of North Korea by the US Air Force. US troops are notified of their deployment to South Korea.
The morning following President Truman's order to the Armed Forces to initiate military action in Korea the military chief of the Hqs AFMC Equipment Division, Directorate of Supply, strode along the 'supervisors' row in the office where I worked. He was accompanied by my Branch Chief who was responsible for specified categories of military equipment and supplies, including those assigned to me. Pointing to each supervisor (or desk if it was unattended at the moment) the Division Chief briefly consulted with the Branch Chief, then read off a dollar amount from a spreadsheet he held in his hand. The dollar amount for my area of responsibility was $25 million -- as a starter.
Immediately upon the Division Chief's departure, the Branch Chief assembled his subordinate supervisors and directed that the $-amounts cited were mandatory totals for Purchase Requests (PRs) from each to be his office at the start of business the following day. He would review them and, upon his approval, have them hand-carried to the Division office. The Purchase Requests were to be for most urgently needed equipment and supplies to support current and 'programmed' USAF operations in Korea.
Priorities
My highest priorities for USAF in Korea were aircrew parachutes, aircraft emergency life preservers, aircrew emergency bailout survival kits (attached to parachute harnesses), oxygen masks, and components ('components,' for instance, took into account that inflatable life preservers are not much help to an aircrew member floating in the sea if the CO2 inflation cartridges had not been checked and installed or had been discharged for an unauthorized purpose. Life vest checklists directed that inflatable life vests would be examined by the wearer or a technician before donning to ensure that the mouth inflation tube connections and CO2 cartridges and emergency inflation levers were intact. It was not unusual to find that the CO2 cartridges were missing or the cartridge seals punctured.
Insofar as personnel parachutes were concerned, 'components' double-checked included ripcords (pins bent, pull cable for burrs or kinks), pilot chute spring action, harnesses, canopy containers (packs), seals on emergency kits, etc.
As combat operations intensified by US-UNCommnd forces in Korea the urgent need for parachutes, aircraft life preservers and other survival and escape-and-evasion gear increased. The United Nations Command (UNC) included the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Belgium, Greece, Canada and Thailand and other nations.
USAF aircraft in the Korean Theater included the P-51, F-80, F-82, F-86, B-29, KC-50, C-46, C-47, C-54, C-82, C-118, C-119 and C-121 and more. See a more complete list at:
http://www.korean-war.info/aircraf
The F-51 (Mustang) role in Korea was ground attack. The F-80 (Shooting Star) was the first operational American jet fighter and a major weapon system of the Korean War. The F-80 recorded the first USAF aerial victories in June 1950. The F-80's high accident rate in the early years of the war was attributed to pilots familiar with propeller-driven aircraft transitioning to the faster and more powerful jets. The F-80 was used for ground support after it was replaced by the F-86 in air superiority tactics.
In effect, the USAF was experiencing a major transition from relatively slow propeller-driven to much higher speed jet aircraft - in the middle of an intense air war. The transformation involved upgrade training for jet aircraft air and ground crews, line and support shops technicians were in practically OJT (on the job training), revamping test and maintenance facilities, acquiring and shipping maintenance new tools and equipment, skills, procedures, tech data, etc. Among these drastic and far-reaching changes, parachute compatibility with aircraft was one among thousands.
The new design B-8 backpack parachute applicable to F-86 and F-100 fighters had been standardized in 1944, however, to my recollection procurements had not, as yet, been initiated by the Property Class 13, in which personnel (bailout) parachutes were catalogued and from where Purchase Requests would be initiated. Procurement data existed. Here again, the problem might have been in coordinating acquisition lead-time for equipment to support the Korean War with the Executive Directive to initiate military action. Logistics had to catch up with reality.
The F-86 jet had entered service in 1949, about one year before the start of the Korean War. F-86s and other aircraft, as well as to support aircraft. Personal equipment, including parachutes and other survival gear was also provided to allied nations under Mutual Defense Assistance Programs (MDAP).
The total additional quantity required for USAF immediate needs in Korea and for other developing or programmed USAF operations worldwide was 50,000 parachutes plus spare parts. The U S was well along in its conversion and retooling to a civilian economy that would concentrate on meeting the pent-up needs of the populace. A one-shot relatively short-duration production program for a distant 'police action' did not represent a sound investment to industry.
Considering the time required by prime contractors to reactivate (actually to recreate) product lines, install manufacturing equipment plus acquisition of materials, parachute hardware, manufacturing tools and skills; acquire components through outsource or in-house-manufacture, and lead time to integrate production and assembly, and ship complete parachutes, etc., was much too long. It got down to how many of each type parachute (seat, back or chest) was most urgently needed, and how could we get the right types and number of parachutes to where they had to be. What was the mix of parachute types to be procured commercially, checked through the USAF internal quality assurance process, and shipped (packed or unpacked based on circumstances) to meet Korean Theater needs in a combat environment and rapid changes in the Theater's types of aircraft?
The parachute design engineers at the Wright Air Development Center (WADC) at adjacent Wright Field had, by that time, completed the development, test and evaluation phases of the new design Type B-8 back parachute and it had been judged 'Standard' and ready for an initial procurement action. Lead time for commercial acquisition of the B-8 to meet the Korean War's urgent priority was judged unacceptable in light of availability of tooling up, sub-contracting pipiline time, manufacturing the parachute fabric and hardware, and intergation of the components into a complete B-8 parachute. Acquiring the components separately, funneling them into the USAF depot system's fully equipped and staffed parachute shops with their professionally skilled riggers was considered appropriate and that option directed.
~~
A 'complete' parachute, as procured during WWII consisted of all of its components assembled and permanently connected to each other, except for the pilot parachute, ripcord, and 6 bungee/hook assemblies, all of which were installed by the rigger during the pack-for-service process. When the shroud lines, canopy and pilot 'chute are folded into the 'pack' (container) and the flaps brought up from the sides and over to enclose the canopy, the ripcord pins are inserted through holes in the cones that were brought up through grommets.
The bungee (elastic) cords are hooked to eyes along the packs frame so that they snap the flaps back when the ripcord is pulled to clear the way for the pilot 'chute to eject and draw the main canopy out to full extension. The ripcord cable is run a sleeve of which one end ferrule is fastened to the harness webbing and the other end to the pack side flap in line with the canopy release cones. When the ripcord is pulled, the direction of its withdrawal is from the canopy pack across the wearer's chest.
Based on my experience in parachutes and survival equipment maintenance generally I concluded the best approach would be for several contractors to provide USAF with canopies, harnesses and packs as components. Ripcords, pilot chutes, bungees, etc., could be procured independently from qualified sources and from the tens of thousands of each item that were still new in USAF supply warehouses, excess from WW2. The AFMC depot and/or operating wing's Supply function and Maintenance certified parachute riggers would take it from there and connect the canopies to the right harnesses and packs for the job, pack for service, and get the parachutes to where they were needed.
I initiated the Purchase Requests, and received quick coordination on technical accuracy of procurement data from the parachute engineers and Maintenance technical services. The Purchase Requests, to my knowledge, were approved by the oversight authorities.
Some time later, I was criticized by top management for my initiatives and notified (informally) that an 'action' against me was likely. As it turned out, I was 'transferred' to the Hqs AFMC Directorate of Maintenance to review draft Air Force specifications for 'maintainability' on new types of survival equipment for which procurement was planned, to analyze deficiencies reported from the field on aircrew emergency gear, and to write field maintenance manuals and technical orders.
About a year or so after my transfer from the Directorate of Supply the employee who took my former job told me, in the presence of my former staff, that my 'decision' for parachute procurement had been 'right.' I didn't ask for details.
~~~
5. MEMOIR: COLD WAR CONTINGENY PLANNING: NOUASSEUR AIR BASE, MOROCCO 1953-1956
The Cold War between the United States and the former USSR began in the mid-1940s and extended over the following half-century until the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990s. The Cold War's cost to the United States exceeded $8 trillion. More than 110,000 American military lives were lost on foreign soil in the major military conflicts of that era: Korea in the early 1950s and Viet Nam from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. Military personnel and civilians killed and wounded on both sides in those two wars and in other Cold War clashes between the US and the USSR and their allies, have been estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Introduction
From 1953 to 1956 I was a U. S. Air Force civilian employee at Nouasseur Air Base, about 20 miles southwest of Casablanca in what was then French Morocco. My job was in the Logistics Plans Office of the Nouasseur Air Depot.
The Air Depot was being built and staffed to serve as one of three major USAF-NATO logistics centers in the European-Med-North African-Middle East Theater in the event of war with the USSR. Each of the three depots would have a primary geographic area to serve with acquisition and distribution of supplies, repair and maintenance of aircraft and equipment, and conducting Military Assistance Programs.
In addition to Nouasseur Air Depot, the Burtonwood Air Depot, near Manchester UK, would support air forces in the UK and European Northern Tier countries, and the Chatereaux Air Depot in Chatereaux, France, about half way between Paris and Marseilles, would support the Central Tier which extended beyond the Northern Tier to the Mediterranean coast (overlapping somewhat with Nouasseur for Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Turkey). Nouasseur (Casablanca) had the Southern Tier, which included North Africa and on into the Middle East and countries along and in the Med and areas which were not within the Northern and Central Tiers.
As a Logistics Planner at Nouasseur, one of my projects was to prepare an element of U S Air Force Europe (USAFE) logistics plans to support the U S Strategic Air Command (SAC). The plan would organize, staff, equip, transport, test and evaluate, and (in the event of war) activate and deploy Mobile Maintenance Teams consisting of U S civil service volunteers. The teams would provide on-site emergency repairs sufficient to continue flights of US-NATO combat-damaged aircraft forced to land in the Middle East/North Africa on return flights from battle zones.
Strategic Air Command bombers and their direct support aircraft in the active and near-future inventory during the early-1950s included the B-47 Stratojet, a six-engine 4,000 mile range medium bomber which entered service in 1950; the B-52 Stratofortress, an eight-engine 8,000+ mile range heavy bomber scheduled to enter operations about 1955, and the C-97 Stratofreighter cargo and tanker versions with four piston-driven engines which had been in SAC fleet operations since about 1950; also late models B-50 and some older B-29s from World War Two.
~~
At the time, the public's apprehension of a worldwide conflagration including use of nuclear and other mass destruction weapons, sparked by a Cold War incident between US/NATO and the USSR, was considered to be high. The memory of World War Two was fresh in everyone's minds, and the U S confrontation with the USSR that brought on the Berlin Airlift, and its implications for the future, were, to many people, of the gravest portent. The Korean 'police action,' another outgrowth of stresses in the relationships between the USSR, Communist China and the U S, was winding down. 'Viet Nam' was on the horizon.
During much of the half century of the post-World War Two -Cold War era the US depended almost entirely on its own economic, military, industrial and human resources to defend NATO and its own far-flung lines. The international competition for country and regional security, resources to rebuild a devastated Europe, and control and administration of conquered territories created a massive arms race that affected the lives and destinies of people everywhere.
In the late-40s/early-50s the US-USSR conflicts of interests were at a critical stage. Intercontinental nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles were far past the drawing boards, their operational capabilities and effects in war had been carefully estimated and were understood.
The US doubled the number of its Air Force groups to ninety-five, and placed great importance on the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The number of SAC wings increased from 21 in 1950 to 37 in 1952. The growth of SAC air power arrayed US military capabilities and strategies to such concepts as massive retaliation and Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) by NATO should the USSR launch a pre-emptive attack in Europe.
American and NATO planners admitted, however, that neither massive retaliation nor MAD, by themselves, would stop a Soviet first strike and an invasion into Eastern and Central Europe and the Middle East. The USSR could count on huge reserves of its still young, combat-seasoned men under arms, pre-positioned war materiel still in prime combat condition, and relatively short lines of transport and communications.
I have no specific information that would verify the following on international negotiations other than publicly accessible media. Obviously, NATO and the US had to counter the potential of Soviet military offensive and defensive resources and capabilities during the early '50s -- less than a decade since the close of World War Two, and the US and its allies, Communist China, the USSR, and Korea already in a war on the Korean peninsula.
Operational ICBMs were still several years in the future. The B-52 bomber, itself, was still in the early stages of production and deployment. Strategic warfare against Soviet oil drilling, refining, storage, and pipeline facilities in the southwest USSR (Caspian Sea area) were expected to slow Soviet military momentum. For this and other reasons, and to support planned military operations throughout the Balkan, Middle East and Mediterranean, the US expanded and modernized its existing facilities to conduct air operations over the USSR southwestern regions.
NATO and the US built or otherwise secured ground, seaport, and air bases and/or implemented joint-use agreements with governments in the Mediterranean area in the event of a NATO-USSR conflict and, specifically relevant to this memoir, in Morocco, Libya, Turkey, and the Central and Eastern Mediterranean generally.
[French] Morocco
In the early 1950s, SAC was the major tenant on military airfields in Morocco: Ben Guerir and Sidi Slimane Air Bases in central Morocco, and Nouasseur Air Base in the desert about 25 kilometers south of the Morocco's dominant port Casablanca. Morocco had been a French protectorate since 1912, and thousands of French citizens and other Europeans had migrated to French and Spanish Morocco over the years and taken up residency. Large numbers of Moroccan, French and other European nationals were employed by the USAF at its bases and the US Navy's tenancy in Port Lyauty, and at other military installations where the U S and/or NATO had been granted French and Moroccan permission to do so.
Throughout the French occupation of Morocco a number of Moroccan nationalist groups formed in opposition to French domination, and they engaged increasingly in nationalist political and guerrilla resistance, including occasional bombings and other acts of violence. Sultan Mohammed V sided with the nationalists and was deposed in 1953. This further angered the Moroccan populace and in-country violence increased.
The Sultan returned from exile in 1955 and Morocco gained its independence some years later. Many French and Spanish citizens returned to their countries of origin. French military forces, business enterprises, and employment for the indigenous population in Morocco became uncertain, and so did the American military presence on Moroccan territory.
In the years that followed, the Libyan government also changed rulers, with the results that American use of Wheelus Field, for any purpose, was revoked. Nevertheless, context and circumstances in North Africa aside, USAF planning for support to SAC operations under general war conditions, and for a variety of military contingencies, continued; in its way, North Africa all along the Med, would likely experience a deja vu of its World War Two experiences, but caught in a nuclear exchange, probably worse.
(In World War Two, oil refineries, such as those in the Romanian Ploesti fields, were important but extremely costly targets. For instance, in one mission, of the 178 B-24s dispatched to bomb Ploesti, 52 were lost, and all but 35 aircraft suffered damage, one limping home after 14 hours and holed in 365 places. These Allied bombing missions originated in and returned to airfields in North Africa; many of the old landing strips, fuel storage, and maintenance shops previously used by German and Italian military occupiers and then by the Allies, were in poor condition, but they were there.)
Caspian Oil Refineries
Assume that, a US/NATO war with the Soviet Union would include strategic air attacks against Soviet oil wells, refineries and other industrial plants, storage facilities, and transport nets. If so, USSR facilities in the southwest USSR (the Caspian Sea area) would have been among the high priority targets.
That being so, planning for US/NATO aircraft to return from bombing runs over southwest USSR included the option to select routes over-flying Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Crete, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel, Egypt, and other countries throughout the Middle East, across and along the north and south coasts of the Mediterranean.
THE GAP
It was expected that among returning aircraft there would be those which had incurred severe battle damage. Battle-damaged, or marginally or entirely non-operational in flight for other reasons, the aircrews needed to be helped. Unable to remain airborne to reach an organized repair facility or any location where the airplane could be fixed sufficiently for continued flight that would get the aircrew to safety, the airplane 'fixer' had to 'reach out' to the airplane and the aircrew.
One option, to be implemented immediately upon USAFE, SAC, or NATO notice, was to deploy 'rapid area maintenance teams' comprised of U S civil service employees, along with their tool kits and air-transportable mobile power generators, todesignated locations along the SAC aircraft return routes where battle-damaged aircraft could be quickly fixed and serviced sufficiently to take off and keep going west, if not all the way, then at least to another location where another quick-fix and service could be rendered so as to extend the flight another step in the right direction. Repairs would be accomplished through use of anything from on-site fabricated bits-and-pieces to parts and assemblies cannibalized from wrecked aircraft.
The Plan
My assignment was to plan for, inspect potential fixit sites, work out and integrate the details, and prepare a supplement to the USAFE and SAC overall logistics support plans to close the gap. The tasks were to draft '...how to...' policy and procedural guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP); identify hands-on maintenance and supervisory skills that applied to aircraft in the current SAC operations inventory, and provide for their continuing compatibility with replacement weapons and support systems as they became operational in the theater, identify by skill, name and location committed US civil service technicians and staff currently on duty at a depot, identify U S personnel policies which would need adjustment to the anticipated circumstances and initiate administrative actions to initiate policy changes.
From there, I went on to provide for updating manpower resources to anticipated skills requirements, identify and set in motion urgent-immediate procedures to acquire (by standard practices or otherwise) relevant and current manuals and tech data, general and special hand tools, etc. Get a training plan into operation for the program applicable to maintenance team skills, team crew chiefs, and on-site and regional supervisors.
Maintain a current team member notification system, and ongoing liaison with Hqs USAFE to acquire opportune air transportation from selected pick-up points for Mobile Maintenance Teams and drop-off at forward area emergency work sites. Put it all together, get staff and command approval in principle at Nouasseur, take the draft to Weisbaden (Lindsey Air Base) and get staff preliminary sign-off by Hqs Air Material Force European Area (AMFEA) and Hqs United States Air Force Europe (USAFE). Following that, get the coordination of the Directors of Maintenance and the Commanders at Burtonwood Air Depot UK and Chatereaux Air Depot France (Burtonwood and Chatereaux depots' manpower, tools, and other resources were to be committed to the program, hence their being in the loop for sign-off.)
With that done, I could come home, re-cycle, integrate, and send the package off to Hqs SAC, Offutt AFB, Oklahoma and give them a crack at it.
Along the way, get with SAC and other (unidentified) intelligence types and check the lay of the land from Morocco east to Turkey.
Deployment
The three Directors of Maintenance at Nouasseur (Morocco), Chatereaux (France) and (Burtonwood) UK assemble personnel committed to Program, and using the previously authorized priorities request Base Commanders for opportune airlift to move skills, tools, supplies, tech data, etc., to the Program's initial team assembly point in a specified maintenance hangar at Wheelus Field, Libya.
At Wheelus, the program manager (a Nouasseur Air Depot military officer and staff) shuffle and combine the physically present skills, tools, etc., so that teams and their kits are formed, organized, equipped, and ready to move according to requirements and priorities at each forward site where maintenance teams are needed. By air, sea or land transport get the teams to their assigned stations, each Civil Service employee equipped with personal gear adequate for survival under the anticipated wartime conditions. Use designated transportation and other support priority, when essential to the mission.
That, generally, was how it was supposed to work, at least in theory. But we knew better. The reality was that as soon as the nuclear threshold was crossed, which was highly probable, a US-NATO-USSR war wouldn't last more than a couple of days - if that.
The plan was one of several that I drafted while at Nouasseur and at other places in those early days of the Cold War. Many personal anecdotes, from the deeply sad and poignant to the trivial and absurd, have been written about World War Two, Korea, Viet Nam, and the other confrontations between the U S and the Soviets, but the Cold War in as many of its facets as possible, needs to be written about, including memoirs such as this, and they should be entered into the nation's lore so that students will see their many perspectives.
Almost two years were spent in working out, drafting and coordinating the details of this SAC support plan. Would it have worked if and when the need arose? Were contingency plans devised for other options? I don't know. Forward area emergency maintenance (Rapid Area Maintenance - RAM) teams that were much further advanced and detailed, yet comparable in concept to the SAC support plan I worked on in Morocco, were used extensively in the Viet Nam War.
~~~~~
6. MEMOIR and FUTURE HISTORY: SPACEFARING SOCIETIES, INEXHAUSTIBLE NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES, AND LOGISTICS, McClellan Air Force Base, California, 1961 and afterwards. Go to:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/4
~~~~~
7. MEMOIR: MILITARY-CIVILIAN TEAMWORK IN SUICIDE PREVENTION, 'VIET NAM' YEARS AND AFTERWARDS (MCCLELLAN AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA, 1969. GO TO:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/8
8. MEMOIR: FIXING AND PREVENTING MISTAKES IN THE WORKPLACE. Go to:
http://scribe1917x.livejournal.com/9
~~~~
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Suicide Prevention SPARK Newsletter, 5.23.08
May. 23rd, 2008 | 03:02 pm
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) Spark Newsletter, 5.23.08
The following items are among others listed in the May 23, 2008 issue of 'The Weekly Spark,' a Weekly Newsletter of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) at: http://www.sprc.org The Weekly Spark summarizes news articles from around the nation each week. The following headlines and/or descriptions were posted to the SPRC News page with direct links to the original articles or abstracts. I am passing these excerpts along to various forums, message boards, and other online addresses and include the items' URLs for convenience should they be useful.
Mike
~~~
VA Secretary Appoints Panel of National Suicide Experts: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has appointed two special panels to develop recommendations on ways the VA can improve its programs in suicide prevention, suicide research and suicide education. Read the press release to learn who has been appointed to each panel.
http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressre
~~~
CRS Report to Congress: Suicide Prevention among Veterans: This report prepared for members and committees of congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) discusses data and risk and protective factors for suicide in the general population and among veterans. Suicide prevention efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs are also discussed. (The SPARK newsletter provides the direct link for this report. This URL will also access the report:
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34471_
~~~
New nationwide report estimates one in every 12 adolescents experienced major depression in the past year [SAMHSA News Release] A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration indicates that approximately 2.1 million adolescents aged 12-17 experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. The report is based on combined data from the 2004-2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) involving responses from 67,706 adolescents in the US. Spark Extra!
View the full SAMHSA report at:
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/youthdepr
~~~
New York: Telepsychiatry program aids kids in need [Daily Gazette]
Telepsychiatry and other state efforts to increase access to mental health services in areas of New York with shortages of child and adolescent psychiatrists, particularly rural communities and upstate, are discussed.
Spark Extra! Participate in the upcoming webinar entitled Bridging the Gap in Rural Communities: Accessing Behavioral Health Services Through Telehealth, May 30, 1-2:30pm EST. More information is available at
https://tapartnership.on.intercall.c
~~~
South Korea: Elderly suicide rate continues to rise [The Korea Times]
This article discusses the problem of increased suicide rates among the elderly in South Korea and describes government programs being developed to help reduce the rate.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/na
~~~
Peer victimization, depression, and suicidality in adolescents. [Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior] A survey of 2,341 New York adolescents showed that all types of victimization were associated with depression and suicidality and that more frequent victimization was associated with higher risk for depression and suicidality. The effect was found in both males and females, differing from previous studies that only found the affect in females.
http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/a
~~~
Changes in suicide methods in Quebec between 1987 and 2000: The possible impact of bill C-17 requiring safe storage of firearms. [Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior]. A law requiring safe storage of firearms in Quebec had no effect on firearm suicides. After passage of the law, total suicide rates continued to increase for both males and females and increased significantly faster for females.
http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/a
~~~
Religion and spirituality along the suicidal path. [Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior]. This report summarizes the theoretical basis and research findings on the association between religion and spirituality and suicidal thinking, suicide attempts, and deaths by suicide. The authors hope the article will encourage mental health clinicians to explore the spiritual dimensions of their clients’ lives and when possible, emphasize these as part of suicide prevention/intervention strategies.
http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/a
The following items are among others listed in the May 23, 2008 issue of 'The Weekly Spark,' a Weekly Newsletter of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) at: http://www.sprc.org The Weekly Spark summarizes news articles from around the nation each week. The following headlines and/or descriptions were posted to the SPRC News page with direct links to the original articles or abstracts. I am passing these excerpts along to various forums, message boards, and other online addresses and include the items' URLs for convenience should they be useful.
Mike
~~~
VA Secretary Appoints Panel of National Suicide Experts: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has appointed two special panels to develop recommendations on ways the VA can improve its programs in suicide prevention, suicide research and suicide education. Read the press release to learn who has been appointed to each panel.
http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressre
~~~
CRS Report to Congress: Suicide Prevention among Veterans: This report prepared for members and committees of congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) discusses data and risk and protective factors for suicide in the general population and among veterans. Suicide prevention efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs are also discussed. (The SPARK newsletter provides the direct link for this report. This URL will also access the report:
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34471_
~~~
New nationwide report estimates one in every 12 adolescents experienced major depression in the past year [SAMHSA News Release] A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration indicates that approximately 2.1 million adolescents aged 12-17 experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. The report is based on combined data from the 2004-2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) involving responses from 67,706 adolescents in the US. Spark Extra!
View the full SAMHSA report at:
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/youthdepr
~~~
New York: Telepsychiatry program aids kids in need [Daily Gazette]
Telepsychiatry and other state efforts to increase access to mental health services in areas of New York with shortages of child and adolescent psychiatrists, particularly rural communities and upstate, are discussed.
Spark Extra! Participate in the upcoming webinar entitled Bridging the Gap in Rural Communities: Accessing Behavioral Health Services Through Telehealth, May 30, 1-2:30pm EST. More information is available at
https://tapartnership.on.intercall.c
~~~
South Korea: Elderly suicide rate continues to rise [The Korea Times]
This article discusses the problem of increased suicide rates among the elderly in South Korea and describes government programs being developed to help reduce the rate.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/na
~~~
Peer victimization, depression, and suicidality in adolescents. [Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior] A survey of 2,341 New York adolescents showed that all types of victimization were associated with depression and suicidality and that more frequent victimization was associated with higher risk for depression and suicidality. The effect was found in both males and females, differing from previous studies that only found the affect in females.
http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/a
~~~
Changes in suicide methods in Quebec between 1987 and 2000: The possible impact of bill C-17 requiring safe storage of firearms. [Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior]. A law requiring safe storage of firearms in Quebec had no effect on firearm suicides. After passage of the law, total suicide rates continued to increase for both males and females and increased significantly faster for females.
http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/a
~~~
Religion and spirituality along the suicidal path. [Suicide & Life Threatening Behavior]. This report summarizes the theoretical basis and research findings on the association between religion and spirituality and suicidal thinking, suicide attempts, and deaths by suicide. The authors hope the article will encourage mental health clinicians to explore the spiritual dimensions of their clients’ lives and when possible, emphasize these as part of suicide prevention/intervention strategies.
http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/a
