Fond du Lac’s Agnesian HealthCare is expanding it’s suicide screening age groups to include children as young as eight years old. Beginning this week Agnesian will begin screening patients eights years old and above during hospital visits, using what’s called the Columbia Severity Rating Scale Tool. Agnesian HealthCare Director of Inpatient Behavioral Health, Tiffany Parker, says patients who screen positive will be further assessed to determine follow-up resources needed. A 2020 Fond du Lac County Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs survey found that 14 percent of eighth, 10th and 11th grade students seriously considered suicide within the past year.
