The National Farm Medicine Center has spent decades researching injuries and deaths on farms. Their work now includes a focus on the health and safety of farm kids.
According to Melissa Ploeckelman, “Right now, the research that we’ve done is just looking at medical records of youth. So, we’re talking about ages nine to seventeen who have come into a medical facility for purposes of suicide. So, we’ve looked at the numbers, we’ve looked at the reports, and what we know is what I just stated, that farm children are less likely to have suicidality or suicidal thoughts. We don’t know exactly why yet; that’ll be the next stage of research.”
While the real cause of that trend is still being researched, it is good news for parents and kids on the farm.
“Some things that we think about is it because they have more green space? Is it because they have a specific task or job to do that they feel they have more of a purpose or value on the farm? Is it because of the way farm families usually raise their children and the way that they parent in a way that they’re usually, you know, sitting around the supper table, still having breakfast together? So, we don’t know 100% why, but we do know that the numbers are proving that farm children are half as likely to have suicidality as non-farm, rural children,” she adds.
The National Farm Medicine Center was founded in 1981 by a nurse who noticed unique health issues among farm patients.
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