Last Updated on May 9, 2019 by cassnetwork
Efforts to raise awareness about the trends in suicide attempts and death prompted Logansport Mayor Dave Kitchell to issue a proclamation during the weekly Logansport Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.
With Serenity Alter of the local Suicide Prevention Task Force accepting it, the mayor declared the week of May 8-14 as Suicide Prevention Week in Logansport and urged local residents to take part in Saturday’s Out of the Darkness Walk at Huston Park.
“One of the growing local movements is the number of people who are joining in the fight to prevent suicide,” Kitchell said. “We’ve seen the number of people involved with task force events here double in the past two years, and I think we’ll see more people of all ages joining the fight because we as a nation haven’t been able to adequately address it yet.”
Registration for the suicide prevention walk begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 11 and the walk begins at 10 a.m..
The proclamation reads as follows:
WHEREAS, a recent study in the Journal of Pediatrics reports that attempted suicide by overdose in adolescents and young adults has doubled since the year 2000; and
WHEREAS, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that emergency room visits for patients who have attempted suicide or considered it have doubled from 2007 to 2015; and
WHEREAS, Logansport and Cass County residents have redoubled their efforts to prevent suicide through annual initiatives to deepen awareness and further initiatives to prevent suicide attempts; and
WHEREAS, there are ears to listen and people who can help those most affected on the margins of life through health, or the despairs of relationships or work histories; and
WHEREAS, our local task force needs support from every neighborhood, every nonprofit organization, every church, every school and every major employer to fight a battle that must be won in our community; then
THEREFORE, I David D. Kitchell, mayor of the City of Logansport, do hereby genuinely proclaim and designate the May 8-14, 2019 as:
SUICIDE PREVENTION WEEK IN THE CITY OF LOGANSPORT
David D. Kitchell, Mayor