Suicide is an acute, reversible, and time-limited state.
Suicides can be prevented if the individual gets beyond this acute state.

Erection of a suicide safety barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge.

•	Destigmatize and educate the public about suicide and the need for a barrier
•	Coordinate progress toward building a suicide barrier
•	Assist with private fundraising through our foundation

July 15, 2004— Meeting with San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano.

September 4, 2004— Meeting with Marin Supervisor Hal Brown and Task Force supporter John Vidaurri

September 9, 2004— Meeting with San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier.

October 11, 2004— Meeting with bridge staff, Denis Mulligan, Chief Engineer, Kerry Witt, Bridge Manager, Mary Currie, Public Affairs Director.

December 7, 2004— Meeting with San Francisco Director Sabrina Hernandez.

December 14, 2004— Meeting with Assemblyman Marc Leno.

January 14 2005— Chronicle publishes Op Ed piece by Task Force supporter Jenni Olson on the 10th anniversary of a suicide leap of a close friend and co-worker.

January 17, 2005— Chronicle breaks the story of filmmaker Eric Steel recording most all jumps in 2004 while representing the film is of a different topic.

January 24, 2005— Presentation to Civil Engineering 180 class at UC Berkeley, School of Engineering.

January 25, 2005— Meeting with Directors Janet Reilly and Maryanne Harrison.

January 27, 2005— Bridge District Building and Operations committee meets, receives a staff report on the history of attempts to build a barrier and requests staff produce a document describing how the District can again consider a suicide barrier.

February 1, 2005— A San Francisco high school student jumps from the bridge and dies. His best friend and classmates launch a petition drive to support barrier construction. Chronicle columnist Joan Ryan picks up the story.

February 5, 2005— Meeting with Marin Supervisor Cynthia Murray.

February 6, 2005— Phone discussion with Marin Supervisor Hal Brown.

February 8, 2005— Phone discussion with Del Norte Director Gerald Cochran.

February 11, 2005— Jerry Motto MD conducts a PFNC seminar on the medical and psychiatric nature of suicide for UC Berkeley Engineering students.

February 15, 2005— Meeting with Sonoma Directors Maureen Middlebrook and Michael Martini.

February 18, 2005— Meeting by phone with Napa Director Barbara Pahre

February 24, 2005— Bridge District Building and Operating Committee meets, receives a staff report and hears powerful testimony from many friends and family of those who jumped. Task Force members testify to the impulsive and preventable nature of suicide. The committee recommends the full board approve a program to complete design, preliminary approvals and seek funding for the needed studies.

March 11, 2005— Bridge District Board votes 15-1 to proceed with the recommendations of the Building and Operations committee. Local, regional and international press cover the decision.

April 5, 2005— Meeting with Task Force and families and friends of those who jumped.

April 13, 2005— Metropolitan Transportation Commission committee approves allocation of $1.6 million to partially fund the needed initial studies for a suicide barrier.

May 25, 2005— Task Force Meeting with friends and family of those who jumped and presentation of initial design and engineering results from UC Berkeley engineering students.

September, 2005—$125,000 of the required $400,000 matching funds secured from Marin and San Francisco counties. Private fundraising is underway.

November 11, 2005— Speakers Bureau training at Kaiser Permanente, French Campus, San Francisco

November 29, 2005— Families and supporters Meeting, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital

February 7, 2006— Families and supporters meet to plan 69th Anniversary Event.

May 23, 2006— Mel Blaustein, MD and Kevin Hines, bridge jump survivor, address the American Psychiatric Association Conference in Toronto.

May 24, 2006— On the 69th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, bells at churches throughout San Francisco toll twelve times in memory of the over 1,200 lives lost to suicide at the Bridge. That evening, over 100 supporters gather for a reception at St. Francis Memorial Hospital to hear from Bridge Engineer Denis Mulligan, San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano and others.

October 11, 2006— Meeting with Bridge Director Dick Grosball

October 21, 2006— Anne Fleming, MD presents talk on bridge barrier project to the CAMHPRA Conference (patient advocate’s group) in Los Angeles.

October 25, 2006— Eric Steel’s film The Bridge screened as a benefit for San Francisco Suicide Prevention at the Clay theater; opens in theaters on 11/27/06

October 30, 2006— Meeting with Bridge Director Lynn Newhouse Segal

December 13, 2006 Fund raising Holiday Luncheon for pharmaceutical company representatives at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital.

January 24, 2007— Mel Blaustein, MD and Kevin Hines, bridge jump survivor, speak at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco

February 27, 2007— Meeting of the PFNC Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Barrier Task Force

March 27, 2007— Meeting of the Family and Friends group to plan 70th Anniversary Event to commemorate the Golden Gate Bridge

April 3, 2007— Meeting of the PFNC Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Barrier Task Force. Kat Kaeni, Captain of the PFNC Golden Gate Team in the San Francisco Marathon on July 29, 2007 attends.

April 15, 2007— Mel Blaustein, MD and Mary Zablotny speak at the Northern California Psychiatric Society Annual Meeting, Olympic Valley

May 23, 2007— Mel Blaustein, MD, Anne Fleming, MD and Mary Zablotny speak at the American Psychiatric Conference, San Diego

May 24, 2007— GGB Building and Operations Committee issues a report on engineering and environmental impact study

May 24, 2007— PFNC commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge with a program and reception at St. Francis Memorial Hospital. Awareness Ribbons in “international orange”, the color of the bridge, are introduced

Remarks by Mel Blaustein MD
President, Psychiatric Foundation
of Northern California

It looks like the Board of Directors has finally agreed to move forward with the study of a barrier to prevent suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge. We applaud their courage and that of the families, friends and survivors who testified at the February 24 Board hearings.

This has been the eighth effort since 1948 to erect a barrier. Perhaps the stars are finally aligned. The last effort in 1999 led to the installation of surveillance cameras, scooter patrols and emergency telephones. Nevertheless, the toll continues at two per month, 24
deaths per year. According to the Marin Coroner's Office, we are on target in 2005, with four bodies found so far this year.

It only took New York 16 deaths to erect a barrier on the Empire State Building. The French waited until 352 had jumped from the Eiffel Tower before erecting a barrier. We are approaching 1,300 deaths from the Golden Gate Bridge and the time has certainly arrived.

As a psychiatrist representing the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California, which includes 1,200 physicians, our message is a simple one. Suicide is a time-limited acute response to severe pain, hurt or stress. Six months later, suicidal individuals are thankful to be alive. Suicide from the bridge is not a volitional act.

When one is in a state of severe despondency, their judgment is grossly impaired. That is
why these individuals tend to be impulsive, seeking short-tern solutions to their pain. Regrettably, jumping off the bridge takes only four seconds to hit the water at 75 miles per hour and there are no second chances.

For some the Golden Gate Bridge is a lethal, alluring icon - the last stop in the continental United States with a beautiful, romantic vista on the way down. For others the bridge is a quick fix - a loaded gun - convenient parking, bus access and a four foot rail. Studies completed in 1978 (R. Seiden) reported that of 515 individuals forcefully removed from the bridge, 95% were alive or had died of natural causes 25 years later. The message is a clear one. They don't go elsewhere to suicide. Jumpers thwarted from going off the bridge somehow appreciate that they've been given another lease on life.

Bridge suicides are not simply the mentally ill, who certainly deserve our concern as well. They include a 33-year old physician from California Pacific Medical Center who suicided in October 2004, an 18-year old San Francisco high school student in February, and a 27- year old woman with MS later the same month.

Suicide impacts us all. We understand that the Bridge is experiencing a financial crisis. This should not deter us from moving forward. Creative solutions are possible. The Prince Edward Viaduct in Toronto, which with 400 suicides was second only to the Golden Gate Bridge, established a design competition and a public/private partnership to erect a barrier that went up in 2003. The "Luminous Veil" won the Canadian Architects Award of Excellence that year. Walking tolls might be considered for a 6-month or 9-month period, with monies going to the project.

Our foundation is prepared to educate the public about the many misconceptions that are prevalent about suicide and depression. We plan to work with the families, the Board of Directors and the media until this project is completed.

Let us move forward.

Mel Blaustein, MD
March 11, 2005