The Laredo Public Health Department’s suicide-prevention committee reported a rise in local suicide-related contacts and outlined expanded outreach and training efforts at its July 28 meeting.

The committee heard incident and call-center data covering Jan. 1 through July 28 and discussed steps to expand local crisis response and community awareness ahead of a September campaign. The committee said it has a new data-sharing arrangement with Integral Care to track 988 routed and answered calls for the region and described several planned trainings and outreach efforts focused on barbershops, hair salons and first-line community contacts.

Committee members opened with a summary of local incident figures. “We have attempted suicides, 57 for 20 25. Attempted suicide reports, a hundred and 16. Suicide resulting in death, 13,” said Sergeant Palos, who presented the incident summary and heat maps showing clusters in several parts of the city. Palos also gave the committee the on-scene breakdowns for several recent attempted-suicide calls, noting ages, methods and whether subjects had prior inpatient histories.

The group reviewed 988 call-center metrics provided by Integral Care under a new informal data-sharing agreement. The committee’s presenter said routed calls are not the same as unanswered calls: “Routed calls do not mean that they were unanswered. They were simply mean that they were redirected into another call center.” For the year-to-date period reported, the committee said Integral Care recorded 549 routed calls and 439 answered calls, with a May peak (111 routed, 85 answered) and a sharp decline in June (routed calls down 28.83%; answered calls down 27.06%).

Dr. David Lasand, who represented the committee at a statewide 988 focus group, described regional feedback from the sessions: “It was really a pleasure and a privilege to be there representing the entire committee in our community more than anything. There was a total of 6 individuals, including myself.” The focus group, the committee said, aimed to identify barriers to 988 use and to inform a statewide public-awareness strategy.

Local prevention work described at the meeting included a volunteer-driven business outreach program and scheduled trainings. The Laredo team said it has reached 61 businesses (barbershops, hair salons, tattoo shops) with a QR code and outreach materials; 16 of those were added in July. Miss Garcia announced a first cohort of adult Mental Health First Aid training for a Barber Academy in September, saying the course “is gonna be free of charge” and will train about 15 participants.

Omero Cantu, chronic disease prevention supervisor with the Laredo Public Health Department, emphasized links between chronic illness and depression in outreach planning: “One of of, 4 people with chronic condition is is diagnosed with depression,” Cantu said, adding that chronic disease, pain and social isolation can raise suicide risk. The committee discussed coordinating chronic-disease programs with suicide-prevention outreach.

Committee members also discussed peer support for military and border personnel after the meeting’s report that a service member stationed in the area died by suicide; participants described coordination with military and Border Patrol peer-support programs and asked whether the committee could mobilize local retired counselors to assist affected colleagues and family members.

Organizational and communication steps reported included creation of a committee Discord server for file- and meeting-sharing, an invitation to ongoing statewide focus groups, and plans to expand text-based 988 data collection. The committee also noted a small local book-club series and community events: an Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) book club scheduled at the public library (Aug. 21, Sept. 4 and Sept. 18) and a September awareness campaign that will include social-media posting, school involvement and a possible proclamation kickoff.

Other resources highlighted for providers and clinicians included free consult lines the committee discussed for pediatric and perinatal mental-health questions (CPAN/CPAD and CTAN, as presented), which members said can reduce out-of-town referrals and speed connection to appropriate care.

Committee organizers closed by urging members and partner agencies to plan small and large awareness activities for September, and to register for free CPR/overdose-prevention trainings tied to overdose-awareness events. Trustee Daniela Martinez and others announced community-engagement efforts including backpacks and youth services at upcoming outreach events.

The committee did not take formal policy votes on new funding or contracts during the meeting; presenters framed recent work as volunteer-driven and dependent on further coordination with partner agencies.

The committee said it will continue monthly data reviews with Integral Care, pursue additional 988 data (including text volumes and time-of-day patterns), and run the planned September outreach and training schedule.