Other farmers, yes, and it can give them ideas. But families are left behind. I make myself available for the family members. I tell them about the resources available to help them after a suicide. I tell them where to go, if they wish to, and I mention that there is no cost. The fact that there is no cost is important. They do not want to pay for services like that; they prefer to make payments on their tractors. You have to be available and you have to understand them. That’s all it is; you have to give them courage and help them to want to get up in the morning. When a veterinarian calls me and tells me that a farmer is no longer milking his cows, it’s serious, because soon the cows will not be doing well. So off I go.
I also want to tell you that we have to fight the health care system a lot. As an example, let me tell you about a farmer’s son who was not doing well. When I arrived, the kid was smashing a lot of things with a baseball bat. I told my husband to be ready to call 911 in case he wanted to hit me. I told the kid that, if he did not come with me to get some psychiatric help, I was going to call the police. The young guy followed me. The psychiatric unit kept him for 24 hours. Explain that to me. The parents were so afraid of their son that they kept the doors locked all the time. The unit kept him for 24 hours.
In Quebec, we in mental health are the poor cousins. I can’t talk about Canada as a whole, but, in Quebec, we are the poor cousins. In less than 24 hours, the young man came back to my house.