Cyclists ride through Milford during the 2018 Folks on Spokes Ride/Step Forward Walk fundraiser for Bridges Healthcare’s mental health and addiction recovery services. Photo courtesy of Bridges Healthcare.
The annual Folks on Spokes Ride/Step Forward Memorial 5K will bring together hundreds of cyclists and walkers on Sunday, Sept. 15 to raise funds to support Bridges Healthcare’s community mental health and addiction recovery services for Milford, Orange, West Haven and surrounding towns.
Participants can bike any combination of the 5, 10, 20 and 40-mile routes along the Connecticut coastline or walk the 3.2-mile shoreline trail. All are welcome to join the remembrance ceremony at 9:45 a.m., where participants will pay tribute to lives lost to addiction, overdose, suicide or other mental health-related issues.
“In an effort to bring mental health and substance abuse issues out into the open and remove the stigma often attached to these health disorders, Bridges Healthcare works to raise awareness and provide the needed support and treatment services,” said John Dixon, Bridges Healthcare CEO and president. “The Folks on Spokes Ride/Step Forward Walk raises funds and demonstrates the community’s support for eliminating the silence, solitude and stigma that often surrounds mental illness or suicide and creating a system where no one has to face these disorders alone.”
Registration and check-in begin at 7:30 a.m., the ride begins at 8:40 a.m., the remembrance ceremony is at 9:45 a.m. and the 5K walk starts at 10 a.m. Pre-registration fees are $40 per cyclist, $30 per walker and $15 for all youth ages 7 to 17; children 6 and under are free. Registration includes a free event t-shirt and refreshments. Day-of fees are $50 for cyclists and $40 for walkers.
Co-chairs for this year’s event are Bridges’ board members Karen and Dr. Frank Fortunati. Karen Fortunati’s young adult novel, The Weight of Zero, won the Connecticut Book Award and is about a young woman’s struggle to accept a mental illness diagnosis. The story realistically portrays the impact of a strong support network.
“Frank and I are thrilled to continue this critical mission here in our hometown of promoting mental health care and reducing the prejudice that often surrounds mental health and addiction issues,” Karen Fortunati said.
Frank Fortunati is the vice chief of psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital and medical director of Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital. He is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale Medical School. Most of his career has been devoted to the treatment of adolescents and young adults struggling with a wide range of behavioral health conditions.
“Suicide rates have increased 30 percent across the country between 2000 and 2016, and are now the tenth leading cause of death. Worse than that, suicide is now the second leading cause of death in those between age 10 and 34. That is an absolute crisis,” Frank Fortunati said. “Effective mental health treatment must be provided early and locally for us to reverse this trend,” he said, adding, “large hospital systems cannot reverse this trend alone. We must do everything we can to support community based mental health programs, like Bridges.”
To register or for more information, visit www.bridgesct.org. To sponsor the event, call Marcy Hotchkiss at 203-878-6365 x359.