Suicide

This week you will hear about the tornado and flood damage that struck South Dakota this week. In addition, South Dakota has joined more than 30 other states in seeing vaping-related acute respiratory illness, and new research shows that the suicide rate in the ag industry is five times higher than the national average. This and more on the In the Moment News Podcast.

This week is National Suicide Awareness week. South Dakota ranks 6 in the nation for suicide. The Front Porch Coalition in Rapid City offers services for people effected by suicide. They’re marking awareness week with a memorial butterfly release and film screening. 

In the Moment ... September 10, 2019 Show 655 Hour 2

Research shows that the suicide rate in the ag industry is five times higher than the national average. Among the reasons: worries about income, social isolation, and the ever-present stigma related to seeking mental health services. 

In The Moment ... August 9, 2018 Show 397 Hour 2 

Suicide rates continue to rise throughout the country, and here in South Dakota. How can we help our neighbors--and ourselves--as many begin to consider the state to be in a mental health crisis.

SDPB's Jackie Hendry joins In The Moment host Lori Walsh to discuss the most recent numbers, and how two communities are responding to the growing need.

As suicide rates continue to rise across the state, many local volunteer groups are stretched thin. Lack of funding can be a challenge as they work to prevent future loss and bring some peace to those left behind. For one Rapid City group, that’s where the flamingos come in. 

The Front Porch Coalition is flocking lawns with plastic flamingos as one of its fundraisers ahead of suicide awareness month in September.

In 2017, South Dakota saw the highest number of suicides in state history. This is the second time the state has broken its own suicide record in less than five years.

The state Department of Health reports 192 South Dakotans died by suicide in 2017. State epidemiologist Dr. Josh Clayton says the last time the state broke this record was in 2015 with 173 suicide deaths.

“In 2017 we did see about 80% of the suicides from male individuals," he says. "The highest rate of suicides did come among the population of 20 to 24 year-olds.”

Suicide numbers in South Dakota have increased substantially in recent years. According to a recent report from the Centers For Disease Control, the state's suicide rates have increased 44.5 percent between 1999 and 2016. Experts say there are a number of factors responsible. 

Suicide rates have been climbing nationally for a number of years but even higher rates have been seen throughout the Midwest. Doctor Randy Quevillon is the USD department chair of Psychology. He says rural areas see the highest density of suicides.

South Dakota has the third highest suicide rate for young people in the country, and overall suicide rates in the state are on the rise.

One woman from Presho has seen the impact of suicide on small communities first hand. As a student at the University of South Dakota, Chesney Garnos researched suicide and bullying. Now, she speaks to students in schools around the state. 

At the beginning of her presentation, Chesney Garnos asks students to imagine this scenario:

In spite of losing their lands to settlers and the federal government, being displaced to reservations, having their ceremonies banned for nearly a century, and enduring the frequent persecutions of life in Christian and government boarding schools, the Lakota people have managed to retain much of their culture.  

SDPB’s Jim Kent recently visited the Pine Ridge Reservation to observe an eagle feather ceremony and spoke with 2 Lakota men about the tradition’s significance and its importance in today’s world.

In 2015 tribal officials declared a state of emergency on Pine Ridge following a sharp increase in the number of suicides. Officials say last year there were more than 20 young people who took their own lives on Pine Ridge.

The Bear Program is a grassroots group on the front lines of the suicide epidemic.   The volunteer group takes part in both direct crisis intervention and in powerful staged performances that address suicide head on.  

As parents, teachers, school administrators and tribal officials continue to seek solutions to the youth suicide epidemic that’s plagued the Pine Ridge Reservation for years, health organizations from off the reservation are also offering their help.

SDPB’s Jim Kent visited with representatives of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine and workers at the Pine Ridge Boarding School to discuss how the suicide issue has impacted students and “supervisors” and what’s being done to address the problem.

Congresswoman Kristi Noem spent a day on Pine Ridge listening to the concerns of Lakota youth who are dealing with the tribes suicide epidemic.  Twelve Pine Ridge students have committed suicide this year.
 
Tribal officials are concerned that one key effort in combating suicide,  The Sweet Grass Program, is about to run out of funding.  
 
Tribal leaders praise Noem for her efforts to help the youth of Pine Ridge, but they say more much needs to be done.

Investigators are trying to piece together factors that left a family of six dead in a murder-suicide. Fire engulfed a home near Platte one week ago, and responders found six bodies inside. Preliminary autopsy results show Nicole Westerhuis and four children died of shotgun wounds. Authorities suspect husband and father Scott Westerhuis killed them before shooting himself.

Scott Westerhuis was business manager for an organization called Mid Central Education Cooperative. Recent audits reveal financial issues with grant money that funnels to the group.

The military order of the Purple Heart chapter of Sioux Falls held its 6th annual conference on Saturday. The 30 some purple heart Veterans were all wounded in combat from WWII to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

From their bright purple shirts, to their wheelchairs, canes, and service dogs, Purple Heart veterans share a bond. Department Commander Mark T. Williamson says the experience of being wounded in action lasts long after the conflict stops. 

The Pine Ridge Reservation is struggling with a rash of youth suicides. There have been at least 10 since December. And according to the federal Indian Health Service, there have been 103 attempts by people ages 12 to 24 this past December through March. In February, Oglala Sioux Tribe president John Yellow Bird Steele declared an emergency on the reservation in response to the suicides.

It is national suicide prevention week.

About a dozen groups held an event in Rapid City to draw attention to suicide prevention and mental health.

Click play bellow to hear more.

This is National Suicide Prevention Week. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of all deaths in the United States and the ninth leading cause in South Dakota. Dakota Wesleyan University psychology professor Anne Kelly is conducting research on suicide with the aim of improving prevention efforts and its contributing causes.

SDPB-TV airs "Coming Back with Wes Moore" for three consecutive Tuesdays beginning May 13 at 7:00 p.m.