The Other Silent Killer
Break the Silence to Save Lives-HELP. HEAL. HOPE.
A great number of attendees joined the 2nd Annual HELP. HEAL. HOPE. Suicide Prevention Walk/Run on the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge September 29. Together with MD National Capital Park Police, Prince George’s County Health Dept., Prince George’s County Dept. of Social Services, Prince George's County Dept. of Corrections, Prince George's County Public Schools, Tanger Outlets and more, the event united residents, county and state officials and guests as they walked/ran for awareness of, prevention of and in memory of those who felt they had no hope and no help and took the only choice they saw for themselves.
Credits: Amir Stoudamire / Radenn Media Group
Linda Diaz, one of the event’s organizers spoke about suicide and her involvement in this very serious epidemic. Her daughter Lauryn Santiago took her life in 2013 just 3 weeks after her 15th birthday. In a 2015 interview with News 4 Washington, Diaz says she believes her daughter suffered from severe anxiety, depression, and possibly PTSD due to childhood trauma and bullying. “Instead of fighting the pain, I decided to do something to make her live.” Said Diaz in that interview.
She worked tirelessly with Maryland State Delegates to pass Lauryn’s Law-which requires school counselors to complete a training class in mental health and substance abuse as a part of their certification renewal every five years. Gov. Larry Hogan made that law a reality in 2015.
41,000 deaths in the year that Lauryn’s daughter died in the United States, and between 1999 and 2015 there have been almost 898,000 suicides.
Joined by Diaz were Musa Eubanks and David Smith of Prince George’s County Office of Community Relations. Police Chief Hank Stawinski, Councilmember and Delegate-elect Andrea Harrison, House of Delegates Joseline Peña-Melnyk, and a host of other state and community leaders. Former NBA player Michael Sweetney, who battled depression and survived a suicide attempt was one of the guest speakers.
Delegate-elect Andrea Harrison said, “Suicide is something that affects many of us…across the country, across the world, across the county. Even in my own family, I have lost 2 relatives; 1 even this year to suicide. The whole idea of making people aware [of the] impact of suicide on families, on individuals, mental health challenges that many people face…making sure that information is out there is important. You never know what people are going through so to have a kind word and a smile can go a long way.”
Marylou McDonough, Director of Dept. of Corrections joined in the march with over 60 registrants “People know that suicide is a big issue in public safety but what they don’t realize is Corrections has a higher suicide rate than any other public safety field including police officers. So we are represented today; strong, as a whole person…that we want to give to our officers and employees to support them being well mentally and physically.”
“Suicide is the leading cause of death for children ages 10-19…this is something that is preventable.” Said Eubanks.
Programs such as “Step Forward”, which is a new public awareness campaign released May 14 by Prince George’s County in collaboration with County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, The Health Department, and various nonprofit organizations hope this will help save lives.
