The proclamation issued by the Indiana County Commission on August 24 covered Suicide Prevention Week and International Underground Railroad Month.
“Indiana County has played an important role in the rich history of the Underground Railroad, which concealed, transported, and sheltered freedom seekers on their journeys to the Free States and Canada in the early to mid-19th century. It’s a network of individuals who have worked together to help.” Board Chairman R. Michael Keith read the declaration.
Keith continued, “County brave Dr. Robert Mitchell, Mr. Louis Johnston, Miss Jane Conrad, Maryland’s Harriet Tubman, orator Frederick Douglass, and thousands of freedom seekers. All the people involved in the Underground Railroad, including
The subway has a special connection with Blairsville and Indiana.
“Indiana County’s involvement in UGRR is commemorated in the former Second Baptist Church building in Blairsville, Pennsylvania, a historic building in its own right,” Commissioner Shereen Hess read the proclamation. “The oldest African-American church in Blairsville, built in 1917.”
After the meeting, Hess told Dispatch that the Blairsville Underground Railroad Museum is now open with regular hours of 5-8 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-noon on Saturdays, and no longer by appointment. Told. For more information about the museum, visit https://undergroundrailroadblairsvillepa.com/.
Hess also read out how the “Northern Appalachian Folk Festival will designate a portion of Philadelphia Street as an Underground Railroad” from the proclamation.
NAFF organizer Jim Dougherty said the festival is “seeking to designate 500 blocks of Philadelphia Avenue as the ‘Historic District of the Underground Railroad,'” and that NAFF organizers “will run the UGRR from Blairsville to Indiana.” I want to,” he said.
This year’s NAFF takes place September 9th and 10th in downtown Indiana.
Also at the August 24th meeting, Commissioner Robin A. Gorman said: 1 through September 30, 2022 as Indiana County’s National Suicide Awareness Month.
Gorman and her colleagues took the issue home with a proclamation to the Indiana County Suicide Task Force. The organization’s activities include training sessions on QPR (Question, Persuasion, and Reference), including one recently held after a mental health symposium in the Indiana area.
“Suicide is the 12th leading cause of all deaths in the United States, with the highest mortality among adults ages 25 to 34 and 75 to 84, and adults 85 and older with the highest suicide rate in 2020.” It’s going to be expensive,” Keith said. read. “In Pennsylvania, in 2021, he will have the highest proportion of adults aged 45 to her 54.”
According to the QPR Institute, which developed the curriculum for the task force’s training sessions, “ask, persuade, and refer” are steps anyone can learn to prevent suicide.
Essentially, Matt Frank, crisis intervention coordinator for Open Door, a behavioral health organization in downtown Indiana, says if you think a friend or loved one is at risk of suicide, ask them about it. please.
When presenting to a symposium audience at IASHS, he wanted to set aside what he called the myth of not talking about it.
Also quoting the declaration, Hess said: of suicide. “
Various organizations set up booths at events in the Indiana area. Among them was also a booth for the Blairsville Area Reality Tour, where Becky Karal Perkovich promoted his anti-drug Blairsville Support his group and his FAVOR (Face and Voice of Western Pennsylvania Reconstruction) from Bolivar. was .
The latter organization is planning its second annual “Breaking Down The Borders, Tri-County Recovery Rally” on September 10 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the United Youth Baseball Field in Seward.
Kallal-Perkovich said the event will consist of music, national recovery speakers, three county recovery resource organizations (Cambria, Indiana, and Westmoreland counties), food vendors, and fun activities for kids.
Also at the August 24 commissioners’ meeting, the board appointed Blairsville’s Linda Gwynn to the Indiana County Parks and Trails Board, whose term expires in August 2027.
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