On Saturday, May 13, the Disabled American Veterans and the Montezuma County Public Health Department are hosting a community barbecue and social at 4 p.m. to bring awareness to veteran suicide and the resources offered to those in the community who are in need of help.
The barbecue will take place at the County Annex Building, 107 N. Chestnut St. All members of the community are invited to attend.
Ron Terry, the Commander DAV Chapter 44 VTF Grant Administrator, said he and the other organizers hope the barbecue will provide the opportunity to get more suicide-help resources out to the community.
Wes Soule, a volunteer from DAV and Navy veteran, expressed his gratefulness to businesses in the community that have pitched in, helping them cover almost all of the food for the barbecue. Jennifer Wade with American Family is also loaning a corn hole game to the event as well.
“We’re trying to bring awareness,” Terry said. “We don’t have a lot of resources because we’re a rural community.”
“If someone is going through depression, we want them to know they can go somewhere and get some help. Just have somebody to talk to,” he continued.
Terry said in the three years that he’s been working with DAV, they’ve had many people who were contemplating suicide come in and talk with them.
“It’s happened several times. People come in distraught, ready to end it and we sit down and talk with them,” he said.
Soule noted many people who contemplate suicide are lonely, and spoke of the mental health professional shortage in the area, saying that was one obstacle they had noticed.
“Mental health care is one of the issues we’re discovering,” he said. “There’s a real shortage of mental health professionals and I think that’s because of the limited pay for people in the medical field in a rural community.”
Information about suicide-prevention training will also be present at the barbecue and will include information on training that some of the DAV members will be taking part in.
“We’re going to go through QPR training, which stands for question, persuade and follow up. It’s a pretty in-depth training class and we’re going to be qualified to do that for other people. We’re trying to get as many people in the community aware,” he said.
Terry likened the suicide-prevention training to learning CPR, saying that knowing the red flags and signs of suicide and how to help the person experiencing those symptoms is vital to saving lives of those who are suicidal.
“It’s like CPR. The more people that know CPR, the less people that are going to have deaths and heart failures,” Terry said.
“We’re also encouraging people to do QPR training. We’re not medical experts, we’re what you would call gatekeepers. People who are a front line for people who could be in crisis,” Soule said.
Regardless of the amount of people who attend the event, Soule said he was hopeful those who attend would leave with a greater understanding of the importance of suicide awareness.
“One of the main things I wanted is awareness about suicide issues, so I’m going to feel good regardless of the amount of people that come in, that we’ve created a community awareness,” he added.
