April 15, 2025
Thank You - Chiquita Miller and Rebecca McFarland
I want to give a huge Thank You to Chiquita Miller (Wyandotte County) and Rebecca McFarland (Frontier District) for their outstanding presentation on "Q.P.R. for Suicide Prevention," which was shared with the Wyandotte County Extension Staff. Since the first of the year, our staff has dealt with many personal traumas and tragedies. A person who chooses to die by suicide does not realize the ripple effects their decision has on their family, friends, and co-workers of their family and beyond.
After the first tragedy, staff began to ask how we could support one another and find a way to be there when other staff members needed a friend to lean on but also to heal from the grief we were feeling. Thank you for Chiquita's suggestion to have Rebecca co-present QPR with her.
QPR is designed to save a life. QPR teaches participants three skills: to question, persuade, and refer. This program is not a form of counseling but is intended to offer hope through positive action. This program taught us how to recognize the warning signs of people in trouble and use the skills taught in this session to act vigorously to prevent a possible tragedy.
We need to include QPR training along with our yearly CPR and First Aid trainings to give our staff the skills to potentially save a life.