"Young people are dying from suicide now more than any other cause besides accidents," Justin Coffey, chair of Geisinger's department of psychiatry and behavioral health, says.
"It's a crisis.
Our children deserve better and our families deserve better."
So says Susan McDowell, who has donated $1 million to the Pennsylvania hospital to create a pediatric behavioral health catalyst fund that will support projects and programs to promote innovation in the behavioral health care of children and adolescents, something she has been personally invested in for more than 20 years.
In 2009, McDowell developed House of Hope, a faith-based, residential treatment center for at-risk children in five counties.
She then partnered with Bloomsburg University to create the McDowell Institute in 2012.
The mission is to train education students to deal with at-risk children, giving future teachers tools to handle students' behavioral health issues.
Five years ago, through her philanthropy and advice, Geisinger began the Pediatric Primary Care Behavioral Health program and placed 11 pediatric psychologists in pediatric offices.
"Compared to 20 years ago, we have more professionals in the field," McDowell says.
"We have better places to take care of patients, with the development of a pediatric emergency room and in-patient pediatric psychiatric care.
Those are things I feel really good about
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Caroline Diehl is a serial social entrepreneur in the impact media space. She is Executive Chair and Founder of the UK’s only charitable and co-operatively owned national broadcast television channel Together TV, the leading broadcaster for social change runs a national TV channel in the UK and digital platform which helps people find inspiration to do good in their lives and communities.