Public Awareness Campaign to Prevent Suicide Among Elderly Asian Woman to Launch September 24, 2009

ALBANY, NY (09/22/2009)(readMedia)-- Hamilton-Madison House, The Asian American Federation, and The New York Coalition for Asian American Mental Health will hold an Elderly Asian Women Suicide Prevention Public Awareness Campaign Press Conference on Thursday, September 24th from 2:00 - 3:00 pm at the Korean American Senior Center of Flushing located 42-15 166th, Flushing, New York 11358.

NYS Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera and Dr. Lloyd Sederer, Medical Director of the NYS Office of Mental Health as well as Dr. Tsunetaka Yoshida from the Consulate-General of Japan, will be in attendance to support this public awareness and education event.

This suicide prevention campaign is an important initiative for the Asian Community. Suicide is the 8th leading cause of death for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), compared to 11th leading cause of death for the general population in the United States. Elderly Asian American/Pacific Islander women have higher rates of suicide than older Caucasian and African American women. The rate of suicide increases to 7.95 per 100,000 for Asian women who are 75 years of age and older, compared to 4.18 for white and 1.18 for black women of the same age group (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html)).

A comprehensive campaign to raise public awareness on this very serious mental health issue has been funded through grants from the NYS Office of Mental Health. This campaign, an initiative made possible with the help of Assemblyman Peter Rivera, will target elderly Asian women directly and through links with their families, community and primary care systems. The content of the campaign will be culturally and linguistically relevant to various targeted Asian subgroups, and disseminated through preferred local media and community stakeholders.

This press conference will be an important component in spotlighting the problem of high suicide rate among elderly Asian women and to disseminate a strong message that "it's time to gather together to honor and care for the elderly Asian women in our community."