[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14937-14938]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                SUICIDE EPIDEMIC ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, yesterday on the Senate floor and this 
morning watching an interview on NBC's ``Today Show'' by my colleague 
from Oregon, Senator Smith, there was a great deal of discussion about 
the issue of youth suicide. All of us in this Chamber, as part of the 
Senate family, have extended our hearts, thoughts, and prayers to the 
Smith family upon the loss of their son. It is devastating to lose a 
child. I lost a beautiful, wonderful daughter some while ago to heart 
disease.
  Yesterday, as I listened to my colleague, Senator Smith, describe the 
loss of his son and discuss the issue of suicide, I know that it adds a 
dimension to what is an almost unbearable burden of losing a child, to 
lose a child to suicide. So my thoughts and prayers have been with the 
Smith family, and I know, too, that what Senator Smith has done in 
providing leadership for the legislation passed last evening is going 
to save lives.
  We will not know their names, but there are going to be young people 
in this country whose lives are going to be saved because the grants 
and the resources that are going to be made available through the 
legislation passed by the Senate last night. I am glad to be an 
original cosponsor of this bill. It is going to give kids who are 
despondent and have despair and depression hope, opportunity, and 
counseling. So what the Senate did last night is going to save lives, 
and we owe a great debt of gratitude to Senator Smith. I hope the lives 
that are saved in the years ahead in some way are a memorial to the 
late son of Senator Smith and his family.
  I had come to the floor some 2 months or so ago intending to speak 
about a young girl on the Spirit Lake Nation Indian Reservation in 
North Dakota. When I came to the floor, I saw my colleague was in the 
Chair at that point and I decided that I really did not want to 
describe the circumstances of her death because she had committed 
suicide. I knew the burden the Smith family had been dealing with 
surrounding the loss of their son. So I did not describe that young 
girl's death in any detail, but I would like to today in light of the 
speech that was delivered and in light of the action the Senate took 
last evening, which has given me some hope.
  I will describe this young girl. This young girl was named Avis 
Littlewind. She died a few months ago now. She took her own life. She 
was 14 years of age. She lived on the Spirit Lake Nation Indian 
Reservation. She was a seventh grader at the Four Winds Middle School. 
I am told she enjoyed riding horses, playing basketball, grooming her 
animals, and listening to music. The day after she died, someone told 
me about the plight of this little girl. So I called the reservation 
and talked to the psychologist and the social worker involved. Since 
that time, I have gone to that reservation, I have sat around in a 
circle for an hour visiting with her classmates in the seventh grade, 
talked to the counselors, talked to the school administrators, talked 
to members of the tribal council about what is happening on our Indian 
reservations. Because, although I am speaking today about Avis 
Littlewind, there is an epidemic of suicides on Indian reservations. 
The legislation that Senator Smith, Senator Dodd, and others offered in 
the Senate last evening will help address this epidemic by making 
tribal governments also eligible for grant funding for suicide 
prevention.
  Avis Littlewind died just recently by her own hand. Her sister took 
her life 2 years ago. Her father took his life in a self-inflicted 
bullet wound 12 years ago. But it is more than that. The tragedy of 
suicides is not just a problem on the Spirit Lake Indian reservation--
Just in North Dakota, I have gone on the same mission to talk to people 
at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation when there was an epidemic of 
threats of suicide by young people.
  In this case with Avis Littlewind, there were a lot of warning signs. 
This little seventh grade girl missed 90 days of school up until April. 
She was lying in her bed day after day in a near fetal position.
  Tragically, she had an appointment to see the IHS social worker later 
the same day that she took her life. She did not live long enough to 
make that appointment.
  When I called the reservation to talk to leaders about these issues 
and then subsequently went there to visit with them, this is what I 
discovered: The reservation has one psychologist and one social worker. 
They did not have nearly the capability to follow up with these cases. 
They just could not cope. They did not have the capability to give 
somebody a ride to the clinic. They have to borrow a car, beg somebody 
to give someone a ride to some medical help.
  It is interesting to me, and tragic as well, that the Federal 
Government is directly responsible for the health care of only two 
groups of people. We have a trust responsibility for the health care of 
American Indians. That is a trust responsibility. That is not optional, 
that is our responsibility. And we have a responsibility for the health 
care of Federal prisoners.
  Do you know that on a per capita basis we spend almost twice as much 
for health care for Federal prisoners as we do for health care for 
American Indians? So little girls like Avis Littlewind are found dead 
by suicide, and we don't have the mental health services to reach out 
and help these kids. The mental health services are not available. Just 
call around and ask.
  There are kids who, for their own reasons, are desperate, are 
depressed, are reaching out, and yet the services are not available to 
them. We must do much better than that.
  Let me describe the circumstances on our Indian reservations in this 
country because on many of them it looks as if you are visiting a Third 
World country. Alcoholism, seven times--not double, triple, quadruple--
but seven times the rate of the national average; tuberculosis, seven 
times the rate of the national average; suicide, double the national 
average in this country; homicide, double; diabetes, four times. On the 
Fort Berthold Reservation, the rate of diabetes is 12 times the 
national average. We have to do much better. We have a responsibility.
  I never met this young girl, but I met her classmates and they told 
me about her. She, like a lot of kids, was a wonderful young woman, but 
she lived in a circle of poverty in a family in which two other family 
members had taken their lives. Her cousin, incidentally, 2 weeks after 
Avis Littlewind's death, threatened suicide and had to be hospitalized.
  But it is not just this family. It is an epidemic on our Indian 
reservations with young people. We need resources to deal with it. That 
is why I was so pleased last evening to hear the speech given by 
Senator Smith, a speech that was obviously very difficult for him to 
give on the Senate floor. Then that was followed by legislation enacted 
by this Senate that will begin the long road to do something about this 
problem, to save the lives of kids like Avis Littlewind. She may not 
long be remembered because she is just a statistic with respect to teen 
suicides on Indian reservations, but this young girl, I am sure, wanted 
the things that we want and that our children want--a good life, an 
opportunity. She wanted

[[Page 14938]]

to have hope for the future. She is now lying in a grave, having taken 
her own life.
  We bear some responsibility because the resources that were 
necessary, needed to help treat the depression that this young girl 
had, were simply not available. I met with the school administrators, 
the tribal council, all those folks. The fact is, it was clear to me no 
one took it upon themselves to reach out. If you have a young 14-year-
old lying in bed for 90 days, not attending school, in desperate 
condition, something is wrong. Someone needs to intervene. Someone 
should have saved her life.
  I am not blaming anybody today. I am just saying today there is hope. 
There was not before. Today there is hope. The Senate has taken action 
on a significant piece of legislation that I think will save lives. It 
is too late to save Avis Littlewind's life, but it will save other 
lives. Today I commend my colleague, Senator Smith, whom I believe, 
through the pain and suffering that his family has experienced, has 
done something that will give others hope and offer life and 
opportunity to others.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Dole). The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, let me add to the Senator's remarks. I 
listened to my dear friend, my partner, Gordon Smith, yesterday on the 
Senate floor, and I was very impressed, having seen what he and his 
family have gone through and what others have gone through. It meant so 
much to have him lead the fight for this particular bill.
  I certainly appreciated the remarks of the distinguished Senator from 
North Dakota. There is no question, this is a serious problem for young 
people throughout our country--again, especially for those who are 
Native Americans. I believe the bill, sponsored by my dear friend from 
Oregon, and of course a number of the rest of us, will go a long way 
toward helping to resolve and alleviate some of these problems.
  I compliment all concerned for their sensitivity and their desire to 
do what we can to alleviate these problems and to help our children 
throughout our country.
  My home state of Utah has one of the highest suicide rates in the 
country, in fact, suicide rates in Utah for those 15 to 19 years of age 
have increased close to 150 percent over the last 20 years. In response 
to these disturbing statistics, I authored legislation in 2000 to 
direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide grants to 
states and other entities in order to create programs to reduce suicide 
deaths among children and adolescents. This legislation was included in 
the Children's Health Act of 2000 which was signed into law by the 
President.
  Again, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Garrett Lee 
Smith Memorial Act and I credit its rapid passage through the Senate 
last night to one person--my dear friend, Senator Gordon Smith.

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