Suicide prevention effort brings hospital, nonprofit together

Montana consistently ranks among the highest states nationwide for suicide rates, but North Valley Hospital and the Nate Chute Foundation are in the second year of a collaborative effort aimed at reducing that rate.

Both organizations say suicide continues to be a public health crisis. Montana has ranked in the top five for suicide rates in the nation for the past 30 years, according to the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, and youth suicides are almost triple the national rate.

The hospital last week awarded $62,750 to the Nate Chute Foundation, which provides community-based suicide prevention through education, outreach, and training for local schools, businesses and community organizations.

Kacy Howard, Executive Director of the Nate Chute Foundation, says working together with the community is key to changing that statistic especially in strong partnerships with the healthcare system.

“To have community support and especially from leaders in the medical community is very validating of our work and inspiring to have such strong partnerships,” she said. “While it is public health, this is also community health — it’s about what are your friends and neighbors and loved ones doing and how do they know how to show up for you. It’s a very important part of suicide prevention.”

The financial support comes from the North Valley Hospital Foundation’s collaborative fundraising efforts with the Nate Chute Foundation in 2019. Fundraising also allowed for adding Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation treatment for those suffering from severe depression to the hospital’s Behavioral Health clinic.

The hospital’s implementation plan in response to the 2019 Flathead Community Health Needs Assessment places an emphasis on suicide prevention efforts by the hospital to provide additional treatment options related to suicide and also working with collaborators to provide increased awareness of and education related to suicide.

North Valley CEO Kevin Abel said successful fundraising efforts last year identified a number of community members willing to invest in efforts to curb the suicide rate in the area and the hospital is grateful to those donors and the North Valley Hospital Foundation for its work as part of the joint effort.

“North Valley is very well positioned to handle the medical pieces related to suicide, but we really need the outreach and education component, which is where the Nate Chute Foundation is really well positioned to handle that, especially with our youth,” Abel said.

Abel says the community response has made it so the hospital can provide specific effective treatment for adults with severe depression through TMS, but also to follow through on goals in the implementation of the 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment by funding partner organizations that are working on the front lines to reduce suicide rates.

The hospital’s Behavioral Health clinic has for six month been providing TMS treatment to 24 adults suffering from severe depression through the innovative new service.

The first year of the collaboration in 2019 allowed the Nate Chute Foundation to increase capacity by hiring two new staff members, and to develop the resources and training materials to continue their efforts.

More than 2,100 students were reached in the school-based suicide prevention programs last year and going forward, the foundation plans to use funds to continue to build capacity to continue its broad education and awareness reach, and to organize and lead multi-organization collaborations.

The North Valley Hospital Foundation is the fundraising arm of the hospital, dedicated to helping the hospital fulfill its mission of being the center of healing for the community. The 20-person board of directors says it’s committed to looking at the highest needs at hospital and in the community and helping to secure funding, services and equipment to meet the needs of those doing the frontline work in the north Flathead Valley communities.

Further information about the Nate Chute Foundation’s work in suicide prevention and awareness can be found at www.natechutefoundation.org or by calling (406) 730-2521.

To inquire about qualifying for TMS treatment for adults with severe depression, information is available through the North Valley Behavioral Health clinic at (406) 862-1030.