On April 28, 2006, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed House Bill 1092 creating a Suicide Prevention Program.  This program will be managed by the injury prevention section of Division of Public Health of the Department of Human Resources.  The Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on January 24, 2006 and sponsored by Representatives Judy Manning, Ron Stevens, Sharon Cooper, Jeff Brown, Debbie Buckner and Pat Gardner. 

We would also like to acknowledge and thank Ellyn Jaeger for her dedication and hard work on this Bill.  The Bill was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Renee Unterman and passed unanimously on April 23, 2006.

Governor Sonny Perdue

The Program is expected to be staffed by a full-time coordinator, a half-time epidemiologist and an administrative support position.  The Suicide Prevention Program will work with state and local agencies, hospitals and health care providers to collect data on suicide and suicide attempts and improve education for those people most likely to come in contact with those at risk for suicide.  They will also develop standardized protocols for use in investigating suicide death scenes and implement a state wide system for reporting suicides.

To read all this Bill has to offer, you can look it up at www.legis.state.ga.us and search for House Bill 1092.