(IH Photo)

By Vernon Matters Staff

Spotting suicide sooner

Suicide screening improving in IH emergency rooms

Jul 19, 2025 | 9:27 AM

Emergency departments across Interior Health are getting better at identifying and supporting people at risk of suicide, thanks to new screening guidelines and a province-wide prevention effort.

A study led by UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Lesley Lutes found suicide screening was happening “less than 10 per cent of the time.” Since then, Interior Health has increased that rate to around 30 percent, and it’s expected to continue improving.

The work is part of a broader push across B.C. to make mental health support more consistent in emergency settings. A new suicide prevention framework was launched this spring in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association BC and health authorities like IH.

“The partnership was relatively unique, and it was really the collaboration that gave it strength,” said Dr. Aron Zuidhof, former medical director of IH’s Emergency Services Network in a press release.

That teamwork is already paying off on the front lines.

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“We don’t have to be experts in mental health, but we do have a role to play and that might be to just ask somebody how they are doing,” said Lisa Hobenshield, director of IH’s Emergency Services Network. “If they say they have been having thoughts of harming themselves, we may not know the perfect answer ourselves, but we can connect them to the experts.”

The next full evaluation of suicide screening in IH emergency rooms is planned for fall 2025.