Douglas County to add 988 crisis signs in parks after suicide review

Douglas County planned to install 988 crisis lifeline signs in city and county parks after a new suicide review found a troubling pattern: deaths and emergency calls were showing up in outdoor spaces, especially near waterways.

County health staff told commissioners that the Suicide Fatality Review Board, which launched in December 2025, examined individual suicide deaths to identify better prevention, response and service strategies. Dee Kinard, informatics manager at Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said the board recommended putting 988 signs in parks because people were dying by suicide in those settings and because the county had seen more suicide-related calls and park-related crisis responses over time.

The county data presented to commissioners showed suicide was the eighth leading cause of death overall in Douglas County and the second leading cause of death among residents ages 15 to 44. Officials also pointed to a sharp rise in the share of suicides occurring in or around parks and waterways, from 4.3% in 2023 to 21.7% in 2024 and 20% in 2025. County staff said at least 40 locations had been identified where emergency dispatch had been called or where suicide deaths had occurred.

Those places included South Park, Clinton State Park, Lone Star Lake, Baldwin City Lake, Baker Wetlands, Lawrence Nature Trail, Oak Hill Cemetery, Prairie Park Nature Center and the Eudora Boat Ramp. The planned signs would direct people to 988, the national suicide and crisis lifeline launched in 2022 and staffed by trained counselors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In Douglas County, local calls from the region route to HeadQuarters Kansas counselors in Lawrence.

Officials framed the effort as both a public health measure and a community safety step, aimed at making help visible in places where someone in distress might be isolated or overlooked. The county’s review linked the sign plan to a broader local response focused on younger residents, who face the highest suicide burden after adults overall, and to a countywide effort to interrupt crises before they turn fatal in parks, trails and along the water.