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Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800–273–8255
How To Save a Life From Suicide
She said she was suicidal, but I was prepared. You will be, too.
If a loved one told you today they were suicidal, what would you do? What would you say? As a nurse and a sister touched by suicide, I share this story to prepare you. No one wants to talk about it, so I will. We’ve all heard the expression ‘a cry for help’. I’ll explain what ‘help’ really looks like in real-time. So when the cries come, our shoulders will be ready.
Fridays aren’t always fun
It was a busy Friday at the hospital. But all Fridays are busy in my world. I was a surgery nurse and people like surgery on Fridays so they have the weekend to recover. So I had on my best running shoes. “Wear your roller skates,” they say. There’s no time for handholding a scared patient. No time for lunch. No bathroom breaks. And certainly no time for drama.
I sprinted to the nurse’s station and a fellow nurse sat down beside me. I’m friendly with her, but we’re not friends.
“I’m sorry about you brother-in-law,” she said.
That shook me a little. Shook me back into my personal reality. At work, it’s easy to run for 12 hours…
