A new app has been developed to help prevent suicide in Saskatchewan.
Suicide Intervention Necessity Guidance, or S.I.N.G., was unveiled Tuesday at an event in Regina.
CEO and Chairman Todd Dube said the app asks the patient questions and determines whether or not patients are depressed or suicidal.
“The application is smart; it will detect if that person is okay, or if they are becoming depressed or suicidal,” Dube said. “If it detects if they are suicidal, it will actually call a doctor or a facillitator within five seconds of detecting that.”
Dube said the app is free to the public.
“It is for groups such as crisis teams, the police, internal organizations like that, the app is leased from us, but for patients it is a free app,” Dube said. “I don’t believe patients should have to pay for it.”
The unveiling coincides with suicide prevention week. Dube adds that while there is still a long ways to go when it comes to talking about mental health, a lot of progress has been made across the country on the issue.
