County's suicide deaths drop in 2021

Quay County’s deaths by suicide decreased to a more normal level in 2021 after the county experienced a big increase during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The New Mexico Department of Health, recently completing its 2021 data on deaths by suicide, reported that two such deaths occurred that year in the county.

That was a big drop compared to the county’s seven deaths by suicide recorded in 2020 — the highest in recent memory.

Only one death by suicide was reported in 2019. The number in the county totaled five in 2018, three in 2017 and five in 2016.

Janie Hoffman, president of the Quay County Health Council and creator of the locally based “Make the Call: Don’t Leave Us Behind” suicide prevention initiative, said she hoped her and the council’s efforts made a difference in the decline in suicides in 2021.

“I’m really happy to see them go down,” Hoffman said. “I’d rather it be zero.”

Hoffman also said she was hopeful the state’s 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, launched on July 1, also would make a positive impact.

Despite the decline in 2021, Quay County still ranked high in deaths by suicide.

According to DOH data, the county’s age-adjusted rate was 33.6 deaths by suicide per 100,000 people, compared to the state average of 24.3.

Only Cibola, Colfax, Sierra and San Miguel counties saw a higher rate than Quay.

During a Health Council meeting earlier this month, a DOH epidemiologist presented information showing Quay County having a deaths-by-suicide rate from 2016 to 2020 two times higher than the New Mexico average, which already ranked in the top 10 nationwide. The only county during that period to have a higher rate was Catron.

The data alarmed many at the meeting. County manager Daniel Zamora observed the county’s apparently high rate of mental distress made a good case for the building a proposed regional mental health center in eastern New Mexico.

In response to the 2020 spike in deaths, the Quay County Health Council concentrated more of its efforts on suicide prevention, including the distribution of free gun locks. Firearms are used the most during suicide attempts.

Hoffman launched her “Make the Call: Don’t Leave Us Behind” suicide-prevention campaign in late 2020. She at the time attributed the spike in deaths to the instability and isolation from COVID-19 lockdowns.

New Mexico saw only a slight increase in such deaths during the 2019-2020 period. The state’s total number of deaths by suicide remained the same — 520 — from 2020 to 2021, according to the health department.

The Department of Health urges anyone who may feel suicidal or would like to talk with someone who can help to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. New Mexico also has established a mental health crisis line at 1-855-622-7474 or at 988.