The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics, or ESSENCE, is a national syndromic surveillance system used to monitor disease trends for early detection of potential disease outbreaks. In Tennessee, the Department of Health is using ESSENCE to monitor weekly trends in suicidal behavior and identify regions/counties across the state seeing increased incidents of persons reporting to an emergency department for suicide-related behavior. The weekly surveillance includes individuals across the lifespan and covers ages 5-17, 18-24, 25-44, 45-64, and 65+. All response plans include a list of local community health professionals who can mobilize if ESSENCE reports note an above-baseline number of people reporting to emergency departments (EDs) for suicide-related behavior, including suicidal ideation, intentional self-harm, or suicide attempts.

Each week, the Suicide Prevention Program within the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) will review reports on how many people visited a local ED for suicidal ideation or injuries related to self-harm or suicide attempts. If a certain county reports an above-average number of suicide-related visits for a certain age group, this will trigger an ESSENCE alert for that county and age group. These alerts will be issued weekly by TDH.

This project is supported by a contract between TDH and the Tennessee Association of Alcohol, Drug, and other Addiction Services (TAADAS), which provides administrative oversight to TSPN. This project is supported by the grant number 6 NU50CE002589-02-03 funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services.

1. Anyone interested in receiving ESSENCE alerts may sign up here. (You may sign up for as many counties as you like; if you would like to sign up for counties in both columns, you must enter your email twice. Despite the autogenerated disclaimer at the bottom of the page, you will not receive marketing emails from TAADAS, the agency providing administrative oversight for TSPN).
   
   
2. Fill out the form and check off the counties for which you would like to receive alerts.
   
   
3. You will receive an email whenever an ESSENCE alert is issued for a county you selected.
   
   

Please note that you will receive alerts for the selected county regardless of the age group involved.