Limerick doctor concerned about suicide levels in city's marginalised communities

A doctor who works with the homeless and marginalised groups in Limerick city believes the level of suicide among people he offers cares to is now at “frightening levels”.

Dr Patrick O’Donnell currently runs two voluntary clinics for people who “do not slot into the GP system”.

He warns the abuse of prescription drugs, such as Valium and Xanax, is now as serious a problem in Limerick as heroin addiction.

Dr O’Donnell lectures on health equity at the University of Limerick’s Graduate Entry Medical School.

One of his clinics is based at the St Vincent de Paul soup kitchen in Hartstonge St and the other is at the Annaliffey Drug Project in Ballysimon.

Since the clinics opened 18 months ago, he has provided up to 900 consultations over two afternoons each week.

He disclosed one third of people associated with Limerick’s marginalised community has attempted suicide.

Dr O’Donnell said: “It’s a frightening statistic. From the people I met last week and the people I meet this week, suicide is something constant there in the background.

“I think it sometimes comes from hopelessness, from struggling with addiction, with anxiety.

“I meet people who tell me ‘I was at the river last week and I met the suicide patrol or whoever, who brought me back from the river’s edge’.

“This is something I would experience every week at my two clinics, that somebody will have a story like that.”

Dr O’Donnell said he often hears the stories of desperation after a patient had gone through a crisis low.

“I can work with mental health services and mental health workers in developing a safety plan in these circumstances. I can refer them to the crisis team in emergency department that day,” he said.

Such a situation, he believes, can be difficult to manage in any setting.

“But, in this setting, a clinic which deals with homeless patients, it can seem overwhelming at times,” he said.

Dr O’Donnell said addictions to benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax are now widespread among patients attending his clinics.

“What benzodiazepines are very good at is calming things down, slowing it down, relaxing it a bit for people who have chaotic lives and traumatic experiences. They refer them to as Upjohns. It is probably more pronounced in Limerick than in Dublin.

“Nearly everybody I would see has been taking some form of benzodiazepine. But they are addictive and this causes huge problems. It can take months to get a person off them.

“Addiction among the homeless is a huge issue, whether it’s addiction came first, or that it come from being homeless.”

Dr O’Donnell said his lectures are based on his experience of the people he meets in his clinics where UL students also accompany him.

While he can come up with medical solutions for individual patients, he said they will not go very far unless the accommodation situation is remedied.

A major problem in Limerick, as in many large urban centres, is a lack of rental accommodation for people who want to get into a normal routine.

“I have people coming into the clinics who are going around, and around, on foot every day looking for accommodation. I am not an expert in housing, nor is it my job to fix this problem, but it often needs to be examined at the same time people come to the clinic. We try and link them up with Focus, Simon, SVP, and key workers who may be able to help organise accommodation. The work of all these key workers will directly affect the health of a person seeking accommodation,” he added.