Commissioners, local partners near agreement to renew volunteer suicide prevention program

The Big Horn County Commissioners, together with the Prevention Coalition, local police and hospital officials, are nearing an agreement to renew the Volunteer Observation Specialist (VOS) program, which aids in suicide prevention and attends to suicidal patients in the county’s hospital system.

The VOS program began almost 20 years ago with Nick Lewis and Ron Salyer, who at the time worked for the county, Lewis as Lovell’s chief of police and Salyer as a dispatch officer. The idea was a simple one, but critical: when a suicidal patient arrived at a Big Horn County hospital, a volunteer would be posted outside of their hospital room door for the 48- to 72-hour evaluation period ahead of a transfer to another facility. The use of paid volunteers eased the financial cost on the county, who would otherwise have to post a sheriff’s deputy on-site, and the hospitals, where nurses often clocked overtime to continue monitoring vulnerable patients.

The program continued under the management of Sheriff Ken Blackburn, then — after Blackburn departed as its head — experienced a few turbulent years. Upon his return, he petitioned the commissioners to find a dedicated manager for the program, which he characterized as “a tremendous amount of work.” It wasn’t for lack of support, Blackburn explained, noting that the VOS program is critical and lifesaving, but that he could not devote his full attention or energy to it while continuing to lead the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office. 

“This (program) is a great intermediate step,” he said. “Jail is not therapeutic for those in crises and we want to really advocate healing so people are able to get through those crises, instead.”

The commissioners heeded Blackburn’s request and sourced management of the VOS to the Prevention Coalition, a local aid organization that works to reduce violence, drug and alcohol abuse in Big Horn County. Travis Sylvester has since taken over from Blackburn and is spearheading the program’s imminent return.

“We approached it with the idea of: how do we breathe life back into it?” Sylvester explained, but during his initial meetings with Blackburn, other police departments, hospital officials, and past volunteers and program managers, he admitted he was looking for critical faults, effectively stress testing the program. “I was looking for why it wouldn’t work.”

As it turned out, all Sylvester could find to improve upon was a technology upgrade, which, fortuitously, is where his own professional background lies. The Prevention Coalition began building new programs and implementing new software to update the program’s scheduling and management, and entered into earnest conversations with local partners about next steps.

“Everybody’s been incredibly receptive,” he said. “The partners and collaboration have been phenomenal. It really comes down to taking care of your neighbors and this program does that.”

Sylvester explained that during an involuntary hold — in which a patient presents as a danger to themselves or others is brought to the hospital by police and is hospitalized under the provisions set forth in Wyoming Statutes Title 25 — the county is obligated to pay for a sheriff’s deputy to be posted outside of the patient’s door. Taxpayers, he noted, are responsible for that cost, and he estimates 40-60% of the financial cost is eliminated by utilizing a paid volunteer as opposed to a deputy who will likely receive time-and-a-half. By eliminating the need for the deputy’s presence during a 48-72 hold, those tax dollars then return to the wider community and its safety.

During a voluntary hold — in which a person experiencing a mental health crisis willingly checks themselves into the hospital’s facilities — the hospitals will cover the cost of overtime for their nursing staff.

Sylvester explained that it was important to all those involved in the reintroduction of the VSO program that volunteers be fairly compensated for their time and efforts. Pending a final agreement, volunteers will be paid $18/hour with a $1 raise annually for each year of service up to $25/hour. In addition, the county commissioners have agreed to finance incentives such as $50 gift cards for all new volunteers who attend a training.

For Ron Salyer, learning of the program’s imminent return with full backing from its partners is gratifying.

“I thought (VOS) was an invaluable program,” he said, recalling his early efforts on the program with Lewis and his request to Blackburn to keep it in play. “I am still a huge, huge supporter of it.”

During their tenure, Lewis and Salyer had 75 volunteers on both the north and south ends of the county, saw consistent upticks in training attendance by community members and, Salyer said, only saw two patients return to the hospital in their five years as managers.

He spoke highly of the volunteers and their ability to make connections with patients, recalling one volunteer taught patients to crochet. 

Marwyn Layne, who has volunteered with VOS for many years, said she often read books with patients, or played checkers and other games. For her, the most heartbreaking patients were the children. Layne, who is also certified through the Department of Family Services, said that patients as young as 7 years old sometimes ended up in hospital beds for suicidal ideation or attempts.

“They’re usually having a hard time at school,” she said. “They’re being teased or picked on, or they feel like they don’t measure up, and that’s not true, but they don’t know that. It comes down to social pressure.”

Salyer explained that his reason for becoming involved was a familiar story heard in volunteer trainings: loved ones in his own life who had experienced suicidal ideation.

“We all know someone who has dealt with suicide,” said Salyer. “Many of our volunteers would say, ‘I don’t want someone to go through what I did.’”

The program’s subsequent stumbling blocks were disappointing to Salyer, but he knew the program, which he characterized as one-of-a-kind in its nature, was something that would have to be missed before its value was truly understood by all the parties involved.

“I’ve had volunteers move to Minnesota and local police there have asked for info,” he recalled. “The fact is, these people have no place in a jail setting. It just compounds why they would be there in the first place.

“They felt like nobody cared,” he continued. “And they had no idea who these people were or are that volunteered, but they were there. And how cool is it that for someone who is having suicidal thoughts, there’s suddenly hope sitting outside their door?”