Suicide Prevention Starts With Recognizing Risks
On World Suicide Prevention Day, CNN looks at how to address a mental health issue leading to 800,000 deaths a year. Public health news is on addiction medicines, safe drinking water and football during COVID, as well.
CNN:
World Suicide Prevention Day: Here's How To Help
Every 40 seconds, someone in the world takes their own life. That's at least 800,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organization, and the numbers are rising in some parts of the world. In the United States alone, suicide rates have increased by 35% between 1999 and 2018. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls suicide a "growing public health problem." (LaMotte, 9/10)
ProPublica:
Hundreds Of Children Are Stuck In Psychiatric Hospitals Each Year Despite The State’s Promises To Find Them Homes
Two years ago, officials from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services vowed to rescue the children they called “stuck kids” — those in state care who had languished in psychiatric hospitals for weeks and sometimes months after doctors had cleared them for release because the agency could not find them proper homes. But children continue to be held at psychiatric hospitals long after they are ready for discharge, a practice our reporting showed leaves them feeling isolated and alone, falling behind in school and at risk of being sexually and physically abused during prolonged hospitalization. (Eldeib, 9/11)
PBS NewsHour:
Could The Pandemic Change Addiction Medicine For The Better?
For many Americans facing addiction, the pandemic has made life significantly harder. Across the country, overdoses have soared, with more than 40 states reporting increases in opioid-related mortality. But the coronavirus is also changing how addiction medicine can be provided, and some experts are saying that could be a silver lining in a devastating public health crisis. (Sy and Fritz, 9/10)
In other news —
Stateline:
Strained Rural Water Utilities Buckle Under Pandemic Pressure
The months leading up to the coronavirus pandemic already spelled trouble for the Rome Water System and the tiny community it serves in the Mississippi Delta. A tornado tossed around several homes, closed roads and left the community without power for two weeks. Lightning strikes on two separate occasions damaged pumps used to transport water and wastewater for about 75 connections serving about 220 people. (Simpson, 9/11)
