Oregon Public Broadcasting

Calls to one of Oregon’s suicide prevention hotlines have increased 55 percent over the last month.
Leslie Storm of the ‘Oregon Partnership’ says fears over the economy have fueled a dramatic increase in calls.

She says she just dealt with a woman who didn’t have any milk to drink because she was saving it for her baby.

Storm: "We're getting more calls like that. Calls where people are living in their cars, families living in their cars. We're getting more calls from, this would be typically a middle aged male who is calling because he's lost his job and he feels that he would be of more value to his family if he killed himself, because they could collect the life insurance."

Storm says the Oregon Partnership has begun taking back-up calls from Washington, Idaho and Alaska -- because so many people are asking for help.

She says they're looking for volunteers, but they have to be willing to take a 56-hour training program.