‘He was my big, strong brother’: Inside one Iowa family’s anguish amid a rise in farmer suicides – By Seema Mehta (LA Times) / Feb 16 2020
MARCUS, Iowa — On a mild spring day, Troy Sand took his middle son, Connor, out for lunch and to shop for a new laptop for college. Then he returned home, wrapped a single-shot shotgun in a rug, drove to his girlfriend’s house in nearby Cherokee, walked into the backyard and shot himself in the head.
Sand was 51. His death devastated his large, close-knit family and shattered this tiny community of fewer than 1,200 people in northwestern Iowa. His death also represented a growing manifestation of despair in rural America — farmers taking their own lives.
“When you have a suicide in your family, that person’s pain ends, but that pain gets put on everybody that’s left behind,” said Jill Vrieze, Sand’s younger sister.
American suicide rates have grown in recent years to levels unseen since World War II. The exact number of farmer suicides is difficult to pin down, in part because they are often reported as accidental deaths. However, experts who work in mental health, agriculture and rural communities all say they have seen a substantial increase.
Jill Vrieze near a family farmstead outside Marcus, Iowa. Vrieze’s brother Troy Sand, who committed suicide at age 51, farmed in the Marcus area and was involved in the family agricultural business. (Jerry Mennenga / For The Times)
Continue to article: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-16/
