Preventing veteran suicides
Photo courtesy PHD Hank Thornton, front row second from left, accepts funds from Don Duffy while surrounded by local veterans.
COEUR d'ALENE — As a part of its suicide prevention efforts, Panhandle Health District’s Suicide Prevention Action Network of North Idaho provided the Veterans Outreach Center, Inc. with $10,000 to continue its efforts to prevent suicide among veterans in Benewah County.
The funds were generated from SPAN’s annual fundraising walk focused on remembering those lost to suicide and to raise awareness.
In 2020, suicide ranked the ninth-most common cause of death in Idaho and claimed the lives of 421 Idahoans. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 57 Idaho veterans died by suicide in 2020, according to a press release.
Hank Thornton, a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran, is the founder of Veterans Outreach Center, Inc.
Thornton began his work in Benewah County in 2018. He started by knocking on doors of veterans he thought might be at risk for suicide and connected them with resources. The foundation has grown. It has a team to assist in knocking on doors, making phone calls, "and helping those facing their darkest hour," the release said.
PHD’s SPAN of North Idaho has chapters based in Kootenai and Benewah counties and an affiliate group based in Bonner County.