


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.

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

Chair
Mel Blaustein MD Medical Director. Psychiatry
St. Francis Memorial Hospital
See below for "In Support of a Barrier"
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Members
Eve Meyer Executive Director
San Francisco Suicide Prevention Jerome Motto
MD
Emeritus Professor, Psychiatry, UCSF
Past President, American Association of Suicidology
Kevin Hines
Student, Bridge jump survivor
Anne Fleming MD
Assistant Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, UCSF
Janice Tagart
Executive Director
Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California |

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
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