Grants Allows Agnesian To Set Up Depression Learning Program And Battle Suicides

Agnesian HealthCare was recently selected as one of five state organizations to be a part of the 2014 Perfect Depression Learning Community. State grant money will help to implement the Perfect Depression Care model.  “We are excited about this grant opportunity because it allows us as an organization to participate in a learning community where the goal is zero suicides,” says Jim Salasek, PhD, director of Agnesian HealthCare’s Behavioral Health Services. The Perfect Depression model will be implemented at Agnesian HealthCare’s Psychiatric Associates in Beaver Dam and Agnesian HealthCare’s Doll & Associates. Fond du Lac County’s suicide rate is higher than the rate for the state of Wisconsin. Seventeen residents took their own life in 2011. It’s with those statistics in mind that the Fond du Lac Healthy 2020 steering committee has set a goal that suicides in Fond du Lac County will decline to 12 or fewer annually.