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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1986)
Tuesday, March 25, 1986/The Battalion/Page 5 — IS Pt«‘ . b J discu arped by Scott McCuiiar Dallas schools to offer stress programs to combat suicide ounselors say AIDS victims ow high risks of suicide Associated Press (LLAS—An AIDS patient who rendy jumped to his death his hospital room illustrates the ems of suicide among the high- roup and dramatizes the need /approaches, counselors said lay. icy said they have stepped up 'ng efforts on helping suicidal victims because of a growing ess that the double blow of hal illness and social stigma b group at a high risk, icide prevention workers said it nbon to gauge the effects of ys death of an AIDS patient, iey agreed there is an increased mess about AIDS sufferers ng.it suicide as a way out. phani Waybourn, a member of card of directors of the Dallas Alliance said, “The grim reality IDS is that each one thinks re going to be the one to beat it Pthink when the realization I rhjhat they’re not going to, I mat’s pretty overwhelming.” licials said Rodney Self, a 32- 'old AIDS patient was found outside Parkland Memorial tal Sunday after he apparently topen a sixth-story window ped. icide prevention counselors Jls had not increased dramati- onday, but that the true reac- vij not come for a few days. “We listen and that’s prob ably the biggest thing a buddy does. ” < — Rex Patton, volunteer at the Oak Lawn Counsel ing Center. Waybourn said the most typical reaction to Selfs death is surprise that there are not more. He also said workers believe there have been other AIDS-related sui cides, but they have not been publi cized. “If anything, this young man’s death has served to get attention to a very desperate situation,” he said. Counselors dealing with suicidal AIDS patients can do little more than listen, he said. “It’s nothing you can argue against rationally,” he said. “AIDS is fatal.” Judie Smith, director of education for the Dallas Suicide and Crisis Center, said the center started train ing programs in cooperation with the Gay Alliance and the Aids Re source Center in January. In a similar incident last October, two men believed to be suffering from AIDS tied themselves together at the waist and jumped 35 floors from their New York apartment building. Charles Villalonga, 43, and Gil bert Rodriguez, 44, died in the Octo ber incident, according to reports. Officials would not publicly say the men were AIDS patients, but an un named detective told the Associated Press it was known that at least one man had the incurable disease. Smith said there are few statistics on suicide among AIDS victims, but it is receiving more attention. “We’re (suicide prevention workers) going to have a conference next week in Atlanta. I’ll wager that that’s going to be a hot topic,” she said. A spokeswoman for Parkland Hospital said no additional counsel ing is planned for other AIDS pa tients. She said administrators are checking windows to see they are se cure, but fire codes prohibit barring them. Catherine Ellis, a hospital spokeswoman, said,“We will make sure that our nursing staff is just very sensitive.” Rex Patton, a volunteer at the Oak Lawn Counseling Center, said the best tools are listening to AIDS pa tients and telling them where to find help for their physical and psycho logical pain. Patton works with the Buddy Pro ject for AIDS patients at the center. “We listen and that’s probably the biggest thing a buddy does,” he said. . Associated Press DALLAS — Several suburban school districts, concerned about sui cides among students, are sponsor ing specialized peer-counseling groups for stress-related problems that can lead to drug abuse, depres sion and suicide. In the south Dallas County suburb of Duncanville, student Dan Kehoe said the school program High on Life helped him kick a $300-week drug habit and allowed him to do “pretty much the same things that any normal kid does.” The 17-year-old senior said he now works in the program to help other students benefit from his ex periences. High on Life, like similar pro grams at other Dallas county high schools, is designed to help students deal with pressures that could lead to drug abuse, depression or suicide. In the Plano Independent School District, peer support groups exist even at the elementary school level, where students watch out for lonely students. Concern about high school stress echoes increases in teen-age suicide statistics. In 1984, the last year for which statistics are available, 57 peo ple under age 25 committed suicide in Dallas County, a 16 percent in crease over the previous year. The trend toward creating peer groups to help with high school stress began after 1983 when a string of teen-age suicides in suburban Plano shocked parents and school administrators. Judie Smith, an official with the Suicide and Crisis Center of Dallas, said, “I’ve worked in this field for years and I’ve seen a real change in attitude within the schools. At one time they didn’t even want to talk about it.” 5-ton elephant attacks Houston Zoo attendant HOUSTON — A 5-ton elephant wrapped its trunk around a zoo keeper’s neck, swung him around and slammed him against a wall, but the man escaped serious injury, offi cials said. John Werler, director of the Houston Zoo, said the 18-year-old Asian elephant reached over a barri cade in a pen and grabbed keeper William J. Neuser as he watered el ephants in an adjacent pen. Jesse D. Frederick, who was visit ing the zoo Sunday afternoon, went to Neuser’s aid when he heard the keeper’s screams. Karen Frederick said her husband climbed over a fence separating the elephant’s pen from the public and then onto a rock in the middle of the pen to distract the elephant from Neuser, who was lying on the ground where the animal had dropped him. She said Neuser escaped when the elephant turned toward her hus band. 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