If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text “Hopeline” to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741.
Suicide deaths among Black residents and older adults in Milwaukee County have risen significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study from the Medical College of Wisconsin has found.
The recently released report, in partnership with the county, compared data from before and after the pandemic, examining the demographics of the people who died as well as the manner of death and location where they died by suicide.
“If better data, stronger partnerships, and more targeted interventions can help even one person find the support they need before it’s too late, then this work matters,” Milwaukee County Chief Health Policy Advisor Dr. Ben Weston said in a statement on May 27.
The study analyzed more than 2,500 suicide deaths between 2002 and 2024 countywide. The annual number of suicide deaths ranged from 87 in 2002 to a high of 156 in 2017. While the overall suicide rates in the county did not change significantly after the pandemic, the study found the demographics and manner of suicide death did shift.
The data highlights increases in the number of men, adults over the age of 65, and a growing use of firearms.
For example, from 2002 through March 2020, the county reported almost 2,000 suicide deaths – 76.1% of which were male, 13.8% were Black, and 12.4% were 65 years or older. Between March 2020 through the end of 2024, the numbers increased to roughly 80% male, almost 20% Black, and 19% 65 or older.
The report spoke of reducing structural barriers to mental health care, such as access, affordability and stigma to improve overall health outcomes and mental health care among Milwaukee’s Black communities.
“Targeted efforts to reduce stigma and promote help-seeking behaviors are essential, as cultural norms and mistrust of healthcare systems may limit early intervention,” the report says.
It also noted that depression treatment, proactive outreach and social connectedness are more successful intervention methods, particularly for at-risk elderly individuals.
The number of firearm-related suicide deaths has also increased, placing Milwaukee County slightly higher than national averages. The use of firearms also increased from just over 40% of suicide mechanisms, or manner of suicide, pre-COVID-19, to roughly 51% post-COVID-19.
The report underscored evidence-based strategies such as limiting access to firearms through the use of safe storage interventions like gun locks, which have lowered suicide risk, particularly in youth.
The study also cites extreme risk protection orders, also known as red flag laws, that allow for the temporary removal of firearms from people at high risk of self-harm, as well as firearm purchase waiting periods as having reduced suicide rates.
“Collectively, these interventions emphasize the importance of time, distance, and access in preventing firearm-related suicide,” the report says.
In 2023, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis found that 71 out of every 100 fatal shootings in Wisconsin were suicides. Of the more than 800 people who lost their lives to gunshot wounds in 2022, roughly 500 were suicides.
“Studies, such as this one, are crucial because it tells us where to direct resources so they are reaching our residents who need them the most and we can save more lives,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a statement.
In recent years, the county has ramped up suicide intervention efforts, including creating a Mobile Crisis line, moving the Mental Health Emergency Center from Wauwatosa to the King Park neighborhood, crisis walk-in clinics, free gun locks, and placing suicide prevention signs in county-run parks. Crowley has also underscored the county’s Department of Health and Human Services’ Better Ways to Cope informational campaign, which aims to promote services and shares resources with those in need of help.
“When research like the analysis that Dr. Weston and our team recently completed highlights certain nuances of what is happening among vulnerable populations in our community, we must respond,” said Dr. Sara Kohlbeck, of the Medical College of Wisconsin’s suicide research division.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee suicides among Black, elderly rise since COVID, report finds
Reporting by Vanessa Swales, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
