In 2021, the Guayaquil Fire Department attended 51 emergencies related to suicide threats or attempts, but none with the risk that was registered in the Puerto Santa Ana building

Around 06:30 on Tuesday, February 1, a call entered the ECU911 emergency system to report a suicide attempt from one of the highest floors of a building in Puerto Santa Ana, in Guayaquil.

Several units from different companies of the Benemérito Guayaquil Fire Department (BCBG) attended the emergency, among them, the Juan Gregorio Sánchez Company of Chief Psychologists, which has been operating since 2017. Lieutenant Hamilton Flor, commander of that entity, assures that the variables of that emergency were analyzed to establish the most appropriate contingency measures.

How is the type of protocol to be followed in a case of suicide threat established?

According to how the suicide attempt scenario occurs, the resources that are going to be available are chosen, in a previous evaluation. For this situation it is important to have the support of the National Police, because in such a situation there will probably be some aggressiveness, some violence. Yesterday’s emergency (February 1) was extreme and critical. Our intervention is 100% psychological, but if we already have an aggressive case, someone with a sharp weapon or a weapon with which they can hurt themselves or others, the public force is required to be able to repel or neutralize the person.

Unfortunately, this event had an adverse outcome. Could the life of the Venezuelan citizen have been saved with some implement to contain his fall? Maybe a net or rescue cushions?

This was taken into account in the risk assessment. That is an alternative that as a civilian I can say: “Why didn’t they put a mat before the jump”, but if instead of jumping, the person stabbed himself with the knives, what could he do with the mats? So that is the evaluation of the different scenarios that can occur and what was done. There, obviously, since the person fell, people make those kinds of comments. I think about that, if the person had stabbed himself with the knives, what would we do with the mats in that case?

That is the part that we, the response teams, have to see, that is, analyze all the possibilities that may occur. And according to these possibilities, see what things we have, first because we do not have this type of resources for these scenarios, for example, that we can acquire or obtain. Additionally, it must be taken into account that if a person jumps from that height (floor 17) probably, due to the speed and weight, it would damage them.

In that specific scenario, it was not possible to assemble a mattress below due to the structural conditions of the building that did not allow us to put something on it. All that that the civilian people did not see, but that the people who were there saw it. This serves for an analysis of the emergency team of how the event takes us and obviously what we can improve for a future intervention.

Does the Fire Department have a rescue implement of this nature?

No. We have rescue teams like what we saw yesterday (Tuesday), vertical descent teams, teams for collapsed structures. In an event in which a person is aggressive, even if we have these teams, it will be difficult to access the citizen.

How recurrent have been the emergencies of threats or suicide attempts that have been attended in Guayaquil?

Since the pandemic we have had a high number of suicide attempts. We had cases, but in the pandemic it increased a little more. In 2019, 32; in 2020, 79; and in 2021, 51. However, we have strengthened attention. Currently, we have a psychologist, through ECU911, active 24 hours a day, who provides (psychological) support online. After that, if it is not effective, they activate us as an emergency team from Firefighters Guayaquil, who go to the site of the incident.

When the person who threatens his own integrity is stabilized, what process is activated?

The transfer of the person to the Bicentennial Hospital, to Neurosciences or to a dependency of the Ministry of Public Health is coordinated. It is not a thing that we only treat you on site and leave, but we do try to guarantee your health with therapy.

In the intervention of this type of emergency, what idea is it trying to position in the dialogue with the affected person?

In the intervention of the psychologists, first an approximation is made with the person, verifying if he has any (pathological) condition, if he is a psychiatric patient, if it is an event that altered him: the loss of a family member, the loss of work. Not everyone who threatens to commit suicide has a previous pathology in the psychological area. They are also things that could have happened from one moment to another.

We see what the person needs, if they want water, if they need to talk. There are things that we could facilitate and achieve. It is about the person seeing the different alternatives. For example, if it is a woman who was left alone with her children. In that case she is told the alternatives.

A foreigner died after jumping from a building in Puerto Santa Ana, in Guayaquil

In the case of Puerto Santa Ana, were there variables that could have increased the risk of the rescue or influenced the decision of the Venezuelan citizen? People who saw the situation yelled at the Venezuelan citizen.

Yesterday (Tuesday) there was even a drizzle condition, population was in the place, residents recording, there are other factors that are added and that (for the rescue personnel) in moments of training they do not have them. These events lead us relief organizations to reflect on how to continue preparing ourselves more.

He had been reading the Bible since dawn and called his daughter to say goodbye. These were the last hours of the man who jumped into the void in Puerto Santa Ana

The work to dissuade the Venezuelan citizen lasted several hours and after the adverse effect they also undergo some therapy…

We have two additional protocols. One was activated just yesterday (Tuesday), which is an emotional discharge process. A session was held next to the building. And we plan to do another one tomorrow. A process in which rescue personnel, psychologists, ambulance personnel, all of them, participate to carry out our emotional discharge process. That one takes more time. We evaluate procedures, what we did or could have done, and finally we get the staff to express everything they feel about this news. If there were to be a sequel (such as post-traumatic stress), our team of psychologists is prepared to attend to it. (I)