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YSU President - And Former OSU Football Coach - Among Officials Touting Suicide Prevention

JO INGLES
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU

Ohio State's former football coach Jim Tressel is among those who are talking about suicide and what the state is doing to prevent it.

Republican State Representative Marlene Anielski says one Ohioan commits suicide every five hours. She says it’s the leading cause of death for 10- to 14-year-olds, and the second leading cause of death for 15- to 35-year-olds in Ohio. Jim Tressel, now the president of Youngstown State University, says college students who need help can find it on campuses statewide.

“There is help available and there is hope if you’ll just reach out for it.”

Anielski’s own son died of suicide at the age of 18. She says more needs to be done to break down stigmas that often deter suicidal people from getting help. 

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.