Those were the horrific words from a patient’s sister who stopped by P. Gay Baughman’s dental practice to deliver the tragic news several decades ago. 

“I was a young dentist at the time and didn’t know what to do when the patient told me during an appointment prior to her death that she’d been hit by her boyfriend, and ever since I’ve been trying to make amends for what happened,” said Baughman, a professor at the School of Dentistry.

Baughman now teaches dental students to look for signs of domestic partner abuse, educating them to ask questions of patients including whether they feel safe at home, and helping students understand what resources are available to get help quickly for individuals at risk.

Annually, Baughman and a group of dental students, including members of the student chapter of the American Association of Women Dentists, join with the PEACC Center in Take Back the Night activities, an effort to protest sexual and relational violence and honor those who’ve been victimized.

This year, UofL’s Take Back the Night events kick-off with a resource fair April 4 at the Kornhauser Library Auditorium on the Health Sciences Center Campus. Scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., the event includes representation from the , , , , and . A workshop begins at noon and will educate participants on how to help a friend who has experienced power-based personal violence. The event also provides an opportunity to honor dental school alumna , who lost her life due to relational violence.

On April 6, a resource fair will be held at the Red Barn Plaza from noon to 2 p.m., followed by the “How to Help a Friend Workshop” at  2 p.m. in the Floyd Theater. Students, faculty and staff also are invited to take part in Chalk the Walk on the Belknap Campus beginning at 1 p.m. A virtual Take Back the Night tribute begins at 7 p.m. on Microsoft Teams. Learn more on the .

“If every student is equipped to help one person, what a difference that would make,” Baughman said.

The program, called QPR, which stands for “Question, Persuade, Refer” trains people to react to warnings of suicide with the same kind of step-by-step, quick-action, life-saving procedure as CPR.

“This helps a person know how to react when someone they know is exhibiting signs of suicide,” said Tracie Meyer, Coordinator of , UofL’s suicide prevention program.

Cards Speak offered the training in collaboration with The Louisville Health Advisory Board (LHAB) Behavioral Health Committee and the Kentucky State Zero Suicide Grant program.

“The LHAB has set a Bold Goal of providing QPR training to 10,000 Jefferson County residents during, which is September 9-15,” Meyer said. “We are in the beginning stages of planning these events, and this was one of them. We have QPR trainers traveling throughout Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee to help us reach our goal.”

The training encourages people to listen and watch for suicide warning signs. It provides dialogue to help ascertain if a person needs professional assistance and if so, guide them to it.

Sara Choate, interim program manager at Health Promotion, a division of Campus Health Services, said the training is important now more than ever, as a  released this summer by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that suicide rates rose in all but one state between 1999 and 2016, with increases seen across age, gender, race and ethnicity.

, nearly 45,000 suicides occurred in the U.S. in 2016 — more than twice the number of homicides — making it the 10th-leading cause of death.

Of particular concern Choate said, is that suicide is the second-leading cause of death for ages 15 to 34, which is the typical age range of UofL’s student population.

“Our mission at health promotion at UofL is to offer services, resources and programs for students that address how they can embolden their well-being and resilience in their personal and academic lives,” she said. “Our students are in this high risk age group. So, it’s our responsibility in the health promotion field, especially on campus, to talk about creating opportunities to improve social connectedness, which is one of the main protective factors.”  

Meyer said that there are a number of others on campus who have already received QPR Training, especially in Campus Housing and in the Dean of Students Office. All first-year medical students undergo the training, too.

There will be additional free, 90-minute QPR Suicide Prevention Training sessions offered throughout Louisville Sept 9-15. .

for ways to help if you know someone who is exhibiting signs of suicide.