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As I See It

Put suicide hotline on all student IDs

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Sometimes, solutions don’t have to be complicated. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. That seems to be the case with a Wisconsin mother who is pushing to get information for troubled teens included on their school ID cards. Robin Patrick of Wausau was spurred to action when her daughter lost a 16 year old friend to suicide earlier this year. She has been successful in getting administrators at her Wausau West High School to print the national suicide hotline and other crisis information on the back of all student’s ID’s. Now she is pushing to take the effort statewide. A bill has been introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature calling for all Wisconsin schools to include the crisis contact information on the ID’s of Wisconsin students across the state. It seems such a simple solution, but makes so much sense. It costs next to nothing to print the information on ID’s, and even if it helps spare one life, would be well worth the cost. There is some evidence the effort may be paying off. Calls to crisis centers in the Wausau area are up since the help line number was put on student ID’s in Wausau. The process of getting this bill signed into law is just beginning, but it has bipartisan support. Wisconsin lawmakers should make sure this bill gets signed into law. It may be the simplest thing our lawmakers do this session.

Scott Robert Shaw serves as WIZM Program Director and News Director, and delivers the morning news on WKTY, Z-93 and 95.7 The Rock. Scott has been at Mid-West Family La Crosse since 1989, and authors Wisconsin's only daily radio editorial, "As I See It" heard on WIZM each weekday morning and afternoon.

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