Successful Intervention In Attempted Suicide

On July 26th, the park received a 911 call reporting an attempted suicide in the Doyon-Aramark Joint Venture employee housing area. Ranger Michael O'Connor arrived on scene within five minutes and found a 34-year-old man from Glenwood City, Wisconsin, semi- conscious on the floor of his room. O'Connor was able to determine from what the man told him that he’d consumed 70 to 75 pills of Alprazolam (generic Valium) in an attempt to commit suicide and "go to sleep and not wake up." Ranger Scott Pariseau arrived with the park ambulance and the man was transported to the Canyon Clinic. En route,  his condition continued to deteriorate, but he was stabilized at the clinic before being flown to a hospital in Fairbanks for definitive care. The attending physician's assistant at the clinic said that, without intervention, the man would have died within an hour. The 911 call came from two Joint Venture employees in an adjacent room, MJ Horwedel and Matt Payne. They heard odd noises from the man's room and went to investigate, subsequently calling 911 when they found him down. Had they not been in their room or willing to check on their neighbor, the outcome would have been much different. Their actions saved his life.