Opinion
Yellow Bird Series: Suicide on the reservation


"Five young people - three teenagers and two 25-year-olds - on the Standing Rock reservation in Fort Yates, N.D., took their own lives from December through January. In addition, and in that same time period, more than 30 young people made some kind of a suicide threat or attempt that brought them to the Indian Health Service facility in Fort Yates, according to Indian Health Service staff.

Indian reservations aren't the only place where suicide is a cause of death. According to national statistics, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 15- to 25-year-olds.

This is frightening.

What caused this epidemic of suicide on the Standing Rock Reservation? There is no one cause, no one answer, health-care and tribal leaders say. The really scary part is there doesn't seem to be a pattern, the father of a young teen who attempted suicide said."

Get the Story:
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Ultimate tragedy makes rez reel (The Grand Forks Herald 3/12)

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