Acclaimed author Stephen King proclaimed that monsters and ghosts are real – they live inside us and sometimes they win. On Sunday over 100 people gathered at the Kona Airport Pavilion to battle those monsters and raise awareness and dollars
Acclaimed author Stephen King proclaimed that monsters and ghosts are real – they live inside us and sometimes they win. On Sunday over 100 people gathered at the Kona Airport Pavilion to battle those monsters and raise awareness and dollars to benefit suicide prevention in West Hawaii.
The event was organized by the Prevent Suicide West Hawaii Task Force who, according to their website, was created to provide education, resources, training, and crisis intervention to members of the community and visitors who struggle with the issue of suicide for themselves or their loved ones.
“It is such a serious problem,” said Nancy Sallee, Task Force Chair. “The money we raise today will be partially used for training materials so we can continue to offer free training for anyone on the island who would like it. In addition, we are going to offer scholarships to families who have been impacted by the loss of a loved one by suicide. Many people are destitute when they lose a parent, and this is something we would like to help people with.”
Suicide is the single leading cause of death by injury in the state of Hawaii, with an average suicide rate of about one per day. Currently Hawaii Island has the highest reported rate of suicide in the state.
Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney, Mitch Roth also attended the event to provide support and encouragement to friends and families.
“A couple of years ago we were losing more people to traffic accidents than to murder or other accidental causes, but we’ve changed that,” said Roth. “We have brought down the number of deaths due to traffic accidents, and today the number one cause of death on our island is suicide. This is a serious problem and if we don’t talk about it, nothing will get done, because we won’t realize there’s a problem.”
Roth also mentioned the correlation between suicide and domestic violence.
“Kids who come from homes with domestic violence are six times more likely to commit suicide than people who don’t come from homes with domestic violence,” he said. “Domestic violence is not just a woman’s issue, it’s everybody’s issue. We know that domestic violence is an underlying cause of people committing suicide, and we are focusing on reducing our domestic violence numbers and getting people to take notice.”
Roth said the prosecutor’s office is also concerned about suicide among veterans and within the past two years has supported a veteran’s treatment court.
“More veterans are committing suicide than any other population,” said Roth. “When you see veterans, thank them for their service. We are free in this country because of what they’ve done for us.”
Suicide has devastating effects on the family and friends of the victim, also called ‘survivors of suicide.’ The task force aims to educate the community to view suicide as a preventable public health problem, and hopefully save lives in the process.
“If you think you see depression in a loved one – withdrawing, isolating, giving things away – those are signs that someone’s in trouble and they need help. We need to talk about this topic. People try to avoid it and then our loved ones die. If we save a life today then we have done our work.”
For more information on the West Hawaii Task Force, call 333-8988 or visit www.preventsuicidekona.com
