photo by: Cynthia Hernandez/Journal-World

Lawrence's South Park, seen here on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, features a bandstand built in 1906 and a fountain dedicated in 1910.

Soon there will be 988 crisis lifeline signage in local parks as part of an county-wide effort to decrease the suicide rate in Douglas County.

Death by suicide remains to be a pressing public health problem in the county. While suicide is not a leading cause of death in the United States, in Douglas County, suicide ranks eighth for all ages and is the second leading cause of death for residents ages 15-44, according to county data from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.

This effort was brought forward by the new Suicide Fatality Review Board, which launched in December 2025 to evaluate individual suicide deaths in order to improve prevention, response and service systems at the local level.

Dee Kinard, informatics manager at LDCPH, said while looking back on all of the cases of suicide in the county, the number of people dying in parks has increased over time as well as the number of crisis calls from parks. In 2024, the percentage of suicides occurring in or around parks and waterways drastically increased, from 4.3% of total suicides in 2023 to 21.7% and 20% in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

“The recommendation that came out of the board was that we put 988 signs in parks because we had evidence that people were dying in parks from suicide,” Kinard told county commissioners during their business meeting on Wednesday.

photo by: Screenshot

The number of calls emergency dispatch received for nonfatal suicide ideation and suicide attempts in parks and near waterways from 2020-2025. The graph to the right shows the percent of total suicides occurring in these spaces.

According to information in commissioners’ agenda, at least 40 local parks were identified where emergency dispatch was called to or where a death by suicide occurred, including Clinton State Park, Lone Star Lake, South Park, Baldwin City Lake, Baker Wetlands, Lawrence Nature Trail, Oak Hill Cemetery, Prairie Park Nature Center and the Eudora Boat Ramp.

988 is the nationally supported suicide and crisis lifeline. It was launched in 2022, and its purpose is to provide easy and quick access to mental health crisis support 24/7. The people who answer the phone are trained counselors in a nationwide network of local crisis centers. When individuals dial 988 from 102 counties in Kansas, including Douglas County, they will reach HeadQuarters Kansas counselors in Lawrence.

As the Journal-World reported, HeadQuarters Kansas fully transitioned to 988 at the beginning of this year, and when county residents call the local line, 785-841-2345, they will be instructed to press a button to be directly connected to 988.

Kinard said the board fast-tracked a response to the increase in park suicides and calls that might otherwise have taken far longer to develop.

“Usually with these boards, it takes a year or more to come out with a prevention strategy,” Kinard said. “But after one meeting, … we had enough information to say that we had a good project.”

The signs – which will be installed over the next couple of weeks – say to call, text or chat with 988 and “You matter. Hope has a number.” They were created alongside community organizations such as the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, HeadQuarters Kansas, the City of Lawrence, LDCPH and DCCCA. The Sheriff’s Office is providing funding for the signs.

photo by: Screenshot

The 988 signs that will be placed in Douglas County parks.

“We put together this sign that we are now going to be putting into parks all over the county as well as in the city,” Kinard said, adding that around 20 signs have been created and soon will be up.

Bob Tryanski, director of behavioral health projects, said he anticipates that this will be the first round of signs to go up in parks, targeting areas with the largest number of crisis calls and suicides. The hope is more will go up in the future.

Kinard added that this will also be an opportunity to increase knowledge of 988 in the community, and once the signs are implemented, staff will continue to evaluate its effectiveness in preventing suicides in the county.

“It’s been an actual shock to me that people don’t know about 988 because we live and breathe this information,” Kinard said, referring to the work of community partners and staff. ” … I think we need to do a better job of publicizing that 988 exists. These signs will be one way we can do that.”