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Rising suicide rates in Eagle County reason for concern (letter)

Suicide in Eagle County cause for concern

According to the Nov. 19 Vail Daily story, “Eagle County struggles with record number of suicide deaths in 2018,” Public Health Director Chris Lindley reports a record number of Eagle County suicides to date for 2018.

Lindley also says: “Local efforts will make the difference in Colorado’s overall mental health abyss … these are our communities and we must take care of our communities.”



And so while the healing process of soul, mind and body must necessarily be left to appropriately-trained professionals; nonetheless, cause and effect cannot be overlooked; and “mere” funding for healing shall not reveal the underlying cause of such dangerously poor health.

Insightful writers who describe changing social conditions are all too often overlooked when problems within particularly small communities appear almost “out of the blue.”

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Early residents of Eagle and Pitkin counties are intimately aware of such conditions, since they alone have a proper point of reference in respect to the type (and rate) of local growth which occurred over the past 50 years.

In this regard, one might consider a study of Tony Judt’s: Ill Fares The Land.

Author Judt quotes Oliver Smith’s “The Deserted Village” — “Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, where wealth accumulates and men decay.”

Art Allard

Vail

Thank you for years of service

Now that the dust of the campaign trail has settled, we offer a note of vast thanks to Diane Mitsch Bush, Democratic candidate for United States Congress, who for many months traversed our 3rd Congressional District.

She and her team brought a message of hope, empowerment, caring and inclusiveness to every corner of this notably far flung and diverse territory. Diane has worked with unflagging sparkle, intelligence and empathy toward the goals of a just and productive life for all citizens, including health care for every person, and a healthy planet for future generations.

Although Diane will not go to Washington this year, we are confident that she will continue to work in the public sphere for positive change in our country.

Many thanks, Diane.

David and Judy Carson

Edwards

Write a letter

What’s on your mind? Share your insights with the rest of the community. What’s going well, not so well? Send your letter to letters@vaildaily.com. Letter and column submissions must include the author’s name, hometown and phone number (for verification of authorship only). Because of space constraints, please try to limit your letter to 500 words. By submitting a letter, you are granting permission for the Daily to publish it on the paper’s website. Email Krista Driscoll at kdriscoll@vaildaily.com for more information.


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