The Farmer Angel Network is a support group devoted to suicide prevention in Wisconsin's farming communities. In this conversation, Brenda Statz, co-founder of the Farmer Angel Network, Carey Craker, marketing and volunteer services associate at Reedsburg Area Medical Center, and Christy Updike, transformation program manager at Sauk Prairie Healthcare, discuss how this impactful work began, the domino effect that suicide can have in farming towns, and the resources available to support families and loved ones.

Tom Haederle

Tom Haederle

That's why Farmer Angel Network in central Wisconsin has stepped up to help.

Tom Haederle

Welcome to Advancing Health, the podcast from the American Hospital Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA communications. Farmer Angel Network is a support group founded to tackle suicide prevention, as well as assist loved ones who are coping with it after the fact and steer them to resources that can help. In today's podcast, hosted by Jordan Steiger, senior program manager of clinical affairs and workforce with AHA, we learn more about the group's important work and how area hospitals are contributing to the effort.

Tom Haederle

Jordan's guests are Brenda Statz, cofounder of Farmer Angel Network, Carey Craker, who handles marketing and volunteer services at Reedsburg Area Medical Center, and Christy Updike, transformation program manager with Sauk Prairie Healthcare.

Jordan Steiger

Brenda, Christy and Carey, thank you so much for joining us today on the Advancing Health podcast. We know that it is Suicide Prevention Month. We really want to shed light on the work that our members and our communities across the country are doing to bring some awareness about the issue of suicide, and I think the work that all of you are doing in your community in Wisconsin is really exceptional.

Jordan Steiger

So, Brenda, I'd like to start with you as one of the founders of the Farmer Angel Network. Could you please just tell us more about what the Farmer Angel Network is and what inspired you to start this initiative in your community?

Brenda Statz

We are just a group of people that started out at our church. I had lost my husband to suicide, maybe six years ago coming in October. And we started a support group of people to come in through our church. The president of the men's club, who was a friend of my husband's, wanted to do something.

Brenda Statz

And so he said, I just want to call people together to come in and talk, and that's how it started. And so the ladies of the church did a soup and sandwich luncheon, and we did it from noon to two, because that's when farmers usually come in to eat. And we put it out to Pam Jahnke on Channel 3 News and said, hey, we're having this gathering at Saint Peter's Church in Loganville.

Brenda Statz

Anyone who wants to come and talk or just needs someone to listen, or just wants to find out what's, you know, if something's going on in their life that they want some help with, they should show up. A lot of events we go to, we show up, and our main goal is to provide resources to the rural communities. Because when I went through it with my husband, everybody afterwards said, well, you could have gone here, you could have gone checked into this.

Brenda Statz

I didn't know any of that existed. And so I thought, this is some way that we can help other people and other families. And that was another big key to me was, for me, was to support the families, supporting those going through the crisis because they're already in trauma also. And that trickles down to the kids, all the way down, because it is a domino effect that affects everyone.

Brenda Statz

And so we try to bring resources to everyone to support the whole family. So, if the person does have to go into a treatment facility, by the time they come home, we can have the families supported. Because, like on a farm especially, somebody still has got to do the work whether you're there or not. And so if that person, like when my husband would go, that fell on me and my sons to do the cropping and get everything done while he was in the hospital. And the guilt that they have of not being there. But yet, they can't function where they're at.

Brenda Statz

So, that's what I always told them. You need to go where you can get help because we can't help you here on the farm. So that's your job now, to go get help. And so then he would agree to go, and we would take care of what needed to be done on the farm. But sometimes that can cause a lot of resentment to the other farm members

Brenda Statz

if it goes on for a long amount of time, because everybody gets tired; everybody gets stressed out. And if you don't teach them how to handle that stress, by the time that person comes home, they might be in a good place. Everybody at home is not, and that can just spiral out again. So, if we try to get everybody on a good place before they come home or whatever the situation they have going. That is our biggest goal that we have is just to bring resources, so people realize they are not alone.

Jordan Steiger

You've brought up so many important topics, I think within suicide prevention and just that introduction of the work that you do. I think, you know, surrounding the family and making sure that other people are empowered to take care of themselves as they're taking care for their family member that might be struggling. But one of the things that you really brought up, that I think maybe people in urban areas don't know as much, is just that stress that farmers face and those risk factors that come up for farmers and their families.

Jordan Steiger

So, I'm wondering if you could expand on that a little bit and just tell us about some of the unique things that farmers and farming communities face when it comes to mental health.

Brenda Statz

Stress is one of the number one things, but the biggest stressors they have is the weather. We can't change the weather. You’ve got hay to make, you’ve got corn to plant. Everything relies on good weather or it's too dry. Last year we had a drought. I mean, we had half the crop or less because it wouldn't grow once you put the seed in the ground.

Brenda Statz

The other stressor we have is markets, totally out of our control. We have to take the price that is offered unless you work for a contract[BM1]. You know, there's ways that you can do that. But there's a lot of farmers that don't have access to that or just don't understand how to use the systems. And then other stress too, is just, having time to yourself. Time away,

Brenda Statz

time to get away from the farm, trying to relax somewhere. Because when you live where your job is, you never are off the clock. When you live in town, you work your job, you go home. When you're on a farm, you're at your job all the time, and you can never walk away. And so you have to teach people how to take time for themselves.

Christy Updike

I would add to that, if that's okay.

Jordan Steiger

Yeah, absolutely. Jump in, Christy.

Christy Updike

Couple additional things, are the transitions in farming. So many are family farms, and that transition to younger generations or having to sell or get out of farming are huge stressors and crisis moments for many people. That's a big risk factor that they're going through that. Another is access to guns or deadly weapons. So that is a standard part of living on a farm.

Christy Updike

It is a tool that we have to utilize. And unfortunately, that can be a risk factor in the farming. And the last one is isolation. So much of what farming is with the animals and the fields, and we don't have as many opportunities for fellowship. And that's one thing that Farmer Angel does, is to help bring farmers together to help address that isolation.

Jordan Steiger

I'm really glad you brought up isolation, because I was just going to ask Brenda about that. That was the first word that came to my mind when she was describing, you know, putting together this, this meal and, kind of fellowship at the church, you know, is just having that opportunity to come together, we know, is so important for mental health.

Jordan Steiger

It sounds like that's something that doesn't naturally always happen for people in farming communities. So, I think that, again, underscores the importance of the work that you guys are doing. So, I'd like to transition now and talk to our hospital leaders a little bit about how this actually works within the community. So, Christy and Carey, both of you represent two different hospitals, who work together as part of the Farmer Angel Network.

Jordan Steiger

I love to see when hospitals kind of come together for a common cause, and work across the organization to do something good for the community. So, I'd love for you to explain the role that hospitals play in this greater kind of network of work and the types of services that you provide.

Christy Updike

Sure, I'll start off with that and then Carey can jump in. To start with, Carey and I are both part of farming families as well. So, we have our professional roles and represent our organizations, but then also have our personal roles in being part of farming. And many of the people that we serve in both of our hospital service areas are either farmers, farm families or farm workers.

Christy Updike

They're part of that agricultural community. So, what we do as hospital partners with Farmer Angel Network is to offer our own resources as a part of our professional roles, to help the network coordinate the activities to achieve their mission. So, for example, in my role, I serve on board for the network and bring in the resources we have from the hospital. Whatever

Christy Updike

that might be, my time, the tools and resources, other experts. We also are able to support with expenses or resources like materials and printing materials, which Reedsburg Area Medical Center has done, as well as Sauk Prairie Healthcare. And we cohost and comarket our events. We have also trained our health care providers. So, with the collaboration with Farmer Angel Network, we've brought in different trainings for suicide prevention and for caring for farmers.

Christy Updike

And then we offered a continuing medical education collaborative with our entire county. So, all health care providers and behavioral health care providers in our county that are working toward suicide prevention on how they can best understand the farmers they care for, and practical strategies to help with suicide prevention, mental health care. So, I think with that, Carey can jump in as well.

Carey Craker

Sure. Just to expand a little bit on what Christy said. We help get the resources out there to our rural communities. As with any support group, you have times when things don't get better or when things escalate beyond what our group can help with. Reedsburg has both emergency services for crisis that's available 24/7 and a dedicated and growing behavioral health team that’s comprised of people from the rural community who understand rural living, farmers and rancher perspective.

Jordan Steiger

One thing that you both just brought up was that kind of cultural awareness around, you know, making sure that your providers and your behavioral health providers are aware of some of these things that we're talking about, you know, that could really affect farming communities. I'm a licensed, clinician myself. I'm a social worker, and I can tell you I did not learn in social work school how to care for these types of communities.

Jordan Steiger

And I think it's something that is really important to understand if you're going to be in that situation. So, I think that offering the CME credit, like you mentioned, offering that training at lots of different like lengths and, you know, over different times, I think is really probably very effective for, for you. Carey, I'm wondering if you have any advice for other rural hospital leaders who might say, like, wow, this program and this work is incredible.

Jordan Steiger

I want to start this in my community. What would you tell them?

Carey Craker

I think the biggest thing is going off of what we call our community needs health assessment. It's done nationwide and for the last, I don't know how many years, mental health has been at the top of the list. And so between us, Sauk Prairie Healthcare and the other hospitals in the area, it's the top of our conversation whenever we're looking at what do we need to do to help the community?

Carey Craker

So, the biggest thing, I think, would be, you know, to come together. We're not standing alone where hospitals in small communities who need to band together to help this mental health need.

Jordan Steiger

I think that's great advice. Again, just, you know, we're not in silos. I guess that's kind of a farming pun. I didn't mean that, but we should be working together. Not even just with other hospitals, but, you know, other community organizations, other groups across your, you know, your county, your region. I think that you guys have really done a great job of not staying just within the hospital or staying within a church or staying within these small entities, but really coming together.

Jordan Steiger

As we wrap up, I'd like to just turn it back to Brenda. I want to thank you for starting this and having the courage and the foresight to say that this is something that your community needed and using the loss that you endured to help other people. I think it’s a really beautiful thing.

Brenda Statz

When it comes to this, like we are a network and that's why we are called the Farmer Angel Network. I always say, if one of us doesn't know something, we might know somebody who does. So, we all work together to get to the end result, which is to help the family or to help those that are struggling. And there is a lot of training. I've done mental health, first aid responder and safe talk training.

Brenda Statz

And that's what we've done with the hospitals. And the one thing I give them as advice is when a farmer finally decides to come in, don't just brush them off because it's going to take 15 minutes before they finally come forward with why they're there, because it takes a lot [BM2]for them to leave the farm because they've got 100 things to do.

Brenda Statz

So, they have to be in a really bad place before they will come in. And I said, they're going to walk in your office and they're going to talk about the dog, the weather and everything else. And then when you'll say, well, I guess our 15 minutes is up, and then they'll say, wait a minute, I've been struggling with this.

Brenda Statz

It takes time for them to gain your trust because a person with mental health, like with my husband, it takes a long time before you can trust someone to tell them that they're struggling with something like this, because farmers are fixers and they try to fix it themselves, and they wait so long to go in. But once they get in and they get the right tools or medication or whatever they need to help them navigate what they've got going on in their life, they do respond that much better once they've let it out, that they need help. And we just need to just, really, just listen because sometimes they just want to be heard.

Jordan Steiger

Sometimes just a very easy conversation to say, hey, I'm not doing okay. It's just the gateway that you need. I think everyone listening to this is going to be able to take something away, and we really appreciate the work that you're doing on behalf of all of our hospitals and all of the people that you serve. So, thank you.

Christy Updike/Brenda Statz overlapping

Thank you. Thank you.

Carey Craker

Thank you, Jordan.

Tom Haederle

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