Lurie Children’s Awarded Two-Year Suicide Prevention Grant from the Cardinal Health Foundation

CHICAGO, ILL.— Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is pleased to announce that it has received a $100,000 grant from the Cardinal Health Foundation and will join the Foundation’s Zero Suicide Collaborative.

"This is a timely start to the Zero Suicide Collaborative, as September was National Suicide Prevention Month and October 10th was World Mental Health Day, ” said Kim Kaczor, Director of Operations, Teamwork to Reduce Infant, Child, and Adolescent Mortality (TRICAM) program at Lurie Children’s. “This grant will support our efforts to begin implementation the Zero Suicide framework at Lurie Children's over the next two years.”

Lurie Children’s was one of 17 hospitals across the country to receive a Zero Suicide Collaborative grant, including six children’s hospitals in Ohio.

“Suicide is a growing public health concern in this country,” said Jessie Cannon, Vice President of Community Relations at Cardinal Health. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 48,000 people died by suicide in 2018 – making it the 10^th leading cause of death in the United States.” In fact, suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 10 and 34, and the fourth leading cause of death among those between the ages of 35 and 54.

“We know that preventing suicides among vulnerable people who are already in the healthcare system requires a system-wide approach – to close care gaps and improve outcomes,” Cannon said. “We’re pleased to support Lurie Children’s as they go through this transformative journey.”

All Zero Suicide grantees will participate in a national learning collaborative to help guide their transformation. They will receive comprehensive training and expert consultation from the Zero Suicide Institute, whose framework is based on the realization that suicidal people often fall through the cracks in a fast-paced and sometimes fragmented healthcare system. Zero Suicide guides organizations through strategies to embed suicide prevention practices, including tools for screening, treatment and support.

“We are committed to patient safety and to the safety and support of our clinical staff – who do the demanding work of treating and supporting suicidal patients,” said Kaczor. “This grant allows us to develop a pathway to better assess and modify suicide risk.”

"We’re pleased to be working with our grantees and the Zero Suicide Institute in this Collaborative,” Cardinal Health’s Cannon said. “We know that our grantees will learn from each other, and we expect to learn much from them. We are grateful for their commitment.”

About Lurie Children’s

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is ranked as one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. It is the pediatric training ground for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Last year, the hospital served more than 220,000 children from 48 states and 49 countries.

 

About Cardinal Health  
Cardinal Health, Inc. is a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide. The company enhances supply chain efficiency for clinically proven medical products, pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions. To combat prescription drug misuse, the Cardinal Health Foundation and its education partners created Generation Rx, a national prevention education and awareness program. The Foundation actively supports an array of other solutions, including efforts to reduce opioid prescribing, promote drug take back and safe disposal and expand collaborative community work. Cardinal Health is backed by nearly 100 years of experience with operations in nearly 46 countries. For more information, visit cardinalhealth.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.