Sunday, December 22, 2024
12/22/2024
Project Abstract Summary Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation Zero Suicide Project The Yukon Kuskokwim Delta region in southwest Alaska is home to 58 Federally recognized tribal communities, more than 10% of the 566 Federally recognized tribes in the whole United States. Our region is in a very rural setting where no road system exists, and air travel is the standard method of transportation. At 75,000 square miles in size, our region is larger than Oklahoma, the 19th largest state, in land area. The Yukon Kuskokwim Delta communities have been experiencing a suicide epidemic for the past 40 years. Since 1979, our region has seen over 450 individuals take their life by suicide. With our current population equaling just over 27,000 people, this equals to an age-adjusted suicide rate of 52.3 per 100,000, however 86% of our population is Alaska Native and when Alaska Native suicides are separated, the region’s Alaska Native suicide rate is equal to 63.4 per 100,000, or five times the national average of 13.26 per 100,000. There are theories as to why our people suffer such a highly disproportionate rate of suicide, including our history of oppression and colonization, the epidemics that devastated our villages, and the boarding school era that took our children away to be raised by strangers. Whatever the reason, we know that our thriving culture, once based on healthy principles and self-sufficiency dramatically change within the past 100 years, and what has been left in its wake is severe health and social issues that are destroying our people, including high rates of substance abuse, suicide and depression, domestic violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and poverty. The Zero Suicide Initiative will provide the funding and resources necessary to implement this intervention, using both the Zero Suicide model and our award-winning local Indigenous wellness model, known as “Calricaraq”, that will transform how our health system intervenes with patients at-risk for suicide. A key part of this intervention is the coordination of the Primary Care and Behavioral Health Services departments, and the addition of two Zero Suicide case managers will allow us to follow patients admitted for suicide attempts or ideation through their treatment planning and provide increased care coordination, continuity of care and improved aftercare to help the patient head down the right road towards wellness. We anticipate these added resources will have a positive impact on our people and lead to a decrease in suicide attempts and completions, while creating hope and a positive future outlook for these patients. A rigorous data collection and evaluation plan will provide the outcome data necessary to show the results of our efforts.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).