Monte Bush was only 15 when his grandfather died by suicide on the family farm outside Riverton, Wyoming. One minute, they were working on a pivot irrigator and discussing how expensive a new pump would be; an hour later, Bush found his grandpa’s body. He took over that summer as the property’s caretaker with his grandmother, making sure malt barley, pinto beans and alfalfa were harvested on time and managing a herd of 400 sheep. “I never grieved,” he said. “I buried it, and I got back to work.”
More than 30 years passed before Bush’s trauma and untreated mental health problems bubbled over. He turned to whiskey for solace, and after a night of drinking near the town of Greybull, took off in his truck and slammed into an oncoming vehicle. He wore no seatbelt, and his forehead struck the windshield. Doctors later said that he and some of the other vehicle’s four occupants were lucky to survive.
A new hotline seeks to help people like Bush before they hit their breaking point. The AgriStress Helpline for Farmers and Ranchers is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by professionals trained to work with members of agricultural communities. It’s run by AgriSafe, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce disparities in rural health care, and Via Link, a crisis support provider. The hotline, which is also available in Pennsylvania, Texas, Missouri and Virginia, is supported with grant funding from each state’s Department of Agriculture. So far, Wyoming is the only Western state to get involved.
