WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Safety Council has thrown its support behind a proposal to establish a toll-free telephone line offering stress counselling to farmers.
Executive director Rita Roeland said the organization has urged the provincial government to support the proposal because farm stress can lead to accidents or suicide.
Roeland said while official statistics on farm suicides are unavailable, council research indicates there were three farm-related suicides in the province last year.
A rainy summer which caused high levels of crop disease and a difficult harvest not only reduced incomes, it boosted the levels of stress in farm communities, she said.
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The stress line has been proposed by the Manitoba division of the Canadian Mental Health Association and several farm organizations in the province. Promoters have raised more than $50,000, of which $9,000 was raised from a raffle for donated farm inputs and services.
But the money raised to date is only about 40 percent of the annual cost of operating the service.
Saskatchewan and Alberta have farm stress lines already in place.
While requests for assistance from the provincial government have so far been unsuccessful, CMHA official Marilyn MacKinnon said she’s still hoping for news the government has changed its mind.
Roeland said there were seven farm fatalities on Manitoba farms last year not related to suicide. One has occurred so far this year. The victims were all men, aged 37 to 83.
Most of the accidents involved farm equipment. Three victims were crushed beneath tractor wheels, and two died after becoming entangled in power takeoff equipment.
Children hospitalized
While no children died in Manitoba farm accidents last year, eight youngsters under the age of 10 were hospitalized due to injuries. There were 25 accident victims requiring hospitalization between the ages of 10 and 24.
Unlike industrial workplace incidents, if the farm victim does not require hospitalization, the accident is not reported.
Safety council research indicates farm women are most often injured when working with livestock and equipment they’re unfamiliar working with. She suggested that’s because they must assume responsibility, especially with livestock operations, on an occasional basis while their husbands do other farm work.
