Rob Allen, Intermountain president and CEO, went to Washington, D.C., over the summer to highlight Intermountain Health's efforts to reduce suicide deaths by firearms. The White House invited Rob to speak as part of a national effort to tackle firearm injury and mortality.
"We understand people may have differing views about firearm ownership; however, we can agree on one thing: we all want to keep our family, loved ones, and neighbors safe in a moment of a suicide crisis by creating time and distance to firearms," Rob said taking the podium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. "While tackling the issue of firearm safety may be a daunting task, there is common ground and broad agreement on several paths forward."
Attended by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, representatives from the National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence Prevention & Safety, and other healthcare leaders, this meeting provided a chance for health system leaders to gather and compare strategies for how their organizations are addressing firearm safety among patient populations and in their communities.
Putting time and distance between a person in a suicide crisis and lethal means
Rob shared the work of our Community Health team to get gun locks into as many homes as possible. Firearms are the leading cause of death by suicide in each of the states where Intermountain operates, and the suicide rate in our regions is higher than the rest of the country. In fact, the six states that comprise our service area are part of what is known as the “Suicide Belt,” a term coined by University of Nevada, Las Vegas sociologist Matt Wray in the early 2000s.
“It’s not that there are more suicide attempts, but rather that firearms are very lethal,” Rob said. “Our high firearm suicide death rate contributes to our higher-than-the-national-average suicide death rate.”
Additionally, the time between people deciding to take their lives and then actually attempting suicide is often extremely brief. "Gun locks give more time for people to reconsider, seek help, talk to a family member or friend, come to an emergency room, or call 988," Rob said.
“Some individuals with suicidal ideation have shared that the trigger locks helped them feel safer because they were able to give the key to friends or family to temporarily reduce access while they were struggling,” said Kristy Jones, Community Health director. “We’ve also heard from family members how much better and safer they feel with the added level of safety on the firearms — not only to protect a loved one who may be in crisis but also for overall improved firearm safety in their homes.”
Intermountain’s Community Health program has distributed nearly 67,000 free gun locks since 2019, and we are finding more ways to distribute the locks. Educational materials are provided alongside the gun locks to help individuals and families consider additional and even safer options, such as offsite storage or gun safes.
“We look forward to expanding gun lock distribution into our Las Vegas, Colorado, and Montana markets,” Kristy said. “In the meantime, caregivers from any region who work with patients or clients on safety planning or think a gun lock would be helpful can learn more and order them here.”
Increasing access to mental health resources
Rob also highlighted Intermountain's efforts to increase access to mental health resources. "It’s not enough to ask people to lock up their firearms and hope for the best," he said. "We also need to normalize the conversation about mental health."
Emphasizing our early adoption of mental health integration, Rob shared we’ve been conducting mental health screenings during primary care visits for the past several decades. We also have walk-in Behavioral Health Access Centers in three hospitals in Utah, which act as dedicated emergency departments for individuals in a mental health crisis.
“Suicides continue to account for the majority of U.S. firearm deaths, increasing every year since 2019 to more than 24,000 last year,” Rob said. “The responsibility to reverse this heartbreaking trend rests with all of us, which is why Intermountain instituted a suicide prevention care process model that guides our efforts to assess and treat patients with suicidal thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.”
“We’re committed to helping those who need behavioral health care but don’t know where to go and who to see,” said Tammer Attallah, executive clinical director, Behavioral Health clinical program. “Identifying behavioral needs early in primary care, and, if appropriate, delivering that care in primary care through our integrated programs or supporting with behavioral services navigation, can make critical, lifesaving connections for our patients.”
Suicide reduction is a key strategic priority for Intermountain Behavioral Health. The Executive Committee for Suicide Prevention, sponsored by chief clinical officer JP Valin, MD, is focused on identifying system and community factors to reduce suicide and suicide attempt rates across our geography.
“Ranging from improvements in care delivery and screening approaches, to community partnerships and caregiver well-being, the collaborations encouraged and sponsored by the executive committee can impact suicide prevention throughout our organization, our communities, and the patients and families we serve,” said Mason Turner, MD, senior medical director, Behavioral Health clinical program.
Over the past year, we've trained more than 57,000 first responders, caregivers, teachers, and librarians on Counseling for Lethal Arms (CALM). This approach teaches these professionals to use behavioral health tools to have discussions with an individual struggling with suicide ideation, with the goal for them to voluntarily give their gun(s) to a friend or family member while they seek help.
What's next
Earlier this year, Rob, who was named to the Becker’s Great Leaders in Healthcare list, joined more than 600 healthcare professionals from 38 states in supporting the National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence Prevention and Safety. More than 600 healthcare professionals from 38 states in supporting the National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence Prevention and Safety.
The CEO Council, which now includes 54 members from some of the nation’s most prominent health systems and children’s hospitals — including Rob — was formed in 2022 to organize and spur action on gun violence prevention within the healthcare sector, recognizing the influential role of healthcare executives within their communities.
Working together with the Ad Council, the goal is to deploy a campaign to address the issue, shifting away from divisive, politically charged conversations and instead focusing on approaches that have proven effective.
Already, this event has broadened the conversation. Coverage has been ample, with more than 160 articles published about the event — meaning Intermountain’s message and outcomes are potentially reaching more than 120 million individuals.
“I was honored to represent Intermountain Health and our caregivers at a recent national discussion on what we can and are doing collectively to help prevent suicide deaths by firearms and improve safety in our communities,” Rob said. “This ties directly back to our mission of helping people live the healthiest lives possible.”