As a man scaled the West 17th Street bridge in Huntington on Wednesday and police waited for him to climb down, a Huntington firefighter made light of the situation on Twitter.
One of the tweets, sent from "Htgn. Firefighters" account, said the man "is convinced everyone is whispering about him."
"[The man] doesn't like me," one of the tweets said. "He calls me sparky."
"[The man] needs a nap now," another tweet read. "Doesn't want to talk anymore."
Michelle Toman's brother Jamie died by suicide when he was just 18 years old. Her family members realized later that his efforts to talk about suicide before his death were cries for help.
So to Toman, the man's cry for help on Wednesday was far from funny.
"When something like that happens, the best thing to do is make a lesson out of it for the rest of the public," she said. "This is the perfect example of what not to do."
Huntington police and other first responders arrived at about 3 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a report about a man climbing on the bridge. Dispatchers said the man climbed back and forth between a catwalk under the bridge and the metal framing on top. At about 1:30 a.m., during a heavy thunderstorm, he finally agreed to come down from the bridge, according to a news release from the Huntington Police Department.
Bryan Chambers, spokesman for the city of Huntington, confirmed that the person who was tweeting is a Huntington firefighter, but would not release the person's name. He said the views do not reflect those of the city administration.
The account, which belonged to the International Association of Firefighters Local 289, has since been deleted.
Chambers said that "trained police negotiators" and the police department's "mental health liaison" responded to the incident at the bridge. But he said that Huntington firefighters do not receive training on suicide.
Toman, chair and co-founder of the state American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, says that's a common problem. To her, the incident illustrated a greater problem pervasive in West Virginia, and nationwide - lack of education about suicide among the general public, and specifically lack of training on suicide intervention among first responders.
"That's CPR basically," she said. "You wouldn't send someone to a heart attack victim that didn't know CPR. What's the difference?"
Toman said that the state chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, as well as Prevent Suicide WV, the statewide suicide prevention program for West Virginia, can provide education on suicide prevention and intervention in suicidal crises.
"We will move mountains to train those first responders," she said.
The problem is getting first responders to take them up on it.
"I think the numbers would break our hearts," she said.
Her organization recommends a two-day training for first responders, and she said most agencies won't approve taking that much time off work.
"I get called out multiple times a week by EMS and the State Police because they're not trained in this," she said. "This is where we're broken and we need to fix it."
In 2014, 359 people died by suicide in West Virginia, according to the CDC. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people age 15-34 in the state.
While both Toman and Barri Faucett, director of Prevent Suicide WV, have dedicated their life's work to suicide prevention, they say all West Virginians can play a role in preventing future deaths.
Faucett said that when someone is experiencing thoughts of suicide or a suicidal crisis, simply by being present and listening, a first responder or loved one can help the person in crisis feel connected to the world again.
"You need to be obviously nonjudgmental and aware of the opportunity to potentially save someone's life," she said. "Rather than tweet about the circumstance, you want to promote positive mental health messages and promote help-seeking behaviors."
Toman pointed to guidelines prepared by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The organization recommends that when concerned about someone:
n Listen to their story
n Show you care and that their life matters
n Ask directly about suicide
n Avoid debating the value of life
n Avoid advice to fix it
n Avoid minimizing the person's feelings.
"The will to live is typically strong," Toman said. "People reach out because they don't really want to die, they want what they're feeling or experiencing to stop. Every one of the lives we lose is somebody's someone."
For more information on trainings offered by the state chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, email westvirginia@afsp.org.
For more information about the national organization, visit afsp.org. For more on Prevent Suicide WV, go to preventsuicidewv.org.
Those in crisis can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Reach Erin Beck at
304-348-5163 or follow
@erinbeckwv on Twitter.