SUICIDE: Step toward prevention

At Panhandle Health District, we monitor local health data, trends and research. It’s how we determine the best strategies to improve health outcomes. It may not come as a surprise to you that trends related to deaths by suicide are dismal, and often heartbreaking.

September is Suicide Prevention Month and I am reminded to take a step back from the statistics. Each death cannot be another point on a graph. Each death represents a family member, a friend, a neighbor and a colleague.

Our community’s most recent strategies have focused on bolstering local resources, like the Northern Idaho Crisis Center. The center has been successfully utilized and is a product of many agencies and individuals, across sectors, applying their assets and expertise toward one mission. It takes a village to cultivate change and everyone has an opportunity to play a role.

Whether or not you have been personally affected by suicide, I encourage you to join the Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN) in the fight against suicide next Saturday for the eighth annual “Save the One” Walk at City Park in Coeur d’Alene. All proceeds will go toward continuing and expanding suicide prevention strategies in our community.

Together we can walk to support survivors of suicide loss and raise funds for prevention efforts, local support groups, trainings and educational programs.

8th Annual “Save the One” Walk

Sept. 10

Registration opens at 9 a.m., Walk begins at 10 a.m.

Location: 415 Mullan Road, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814

LORA WHALEN

Panhandle Health District Director