CARMEL – Domestic violence continues to plague Putnam County.
County lawmakers proclaimed October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month at Tuesday night’s full meeting of the Putnam Legislature.
Piaget Solpiaget, executive director of the Putnam Women’s Resource Center, told the nine-member governing body and a handful of residents, “One in three women and one in five men have been victims of some type of physical violence by an intimate partner during the past year, while 72 percent of all murder-suicides nationwide involve an intimate partner, with 94 percent of these murder-suicides being female.”
Last year, the center located in Mahopac, answered 1,095 hotline calls from victims while Women’s Center staff members accompanied 89 victims to the Putnam Sheriff’s Office, court system, Probation Department and District Attorney’s Office.
Piaget, who last week took over for former Director Ann Ellsworth, noted since its opening in 2022, the Special Victim Unit — a joint project of the Women’s Center and the sheriff’s office — has provided safe space for more than 50 adult victims allowing them to meet with law enforcement and victim advocates following an incident of sexual abuse or domestic violence.
Legislator Toni Addonizio noted that domestic violence also affects business and the economy since “one in five employed adults is a victim, and women make up 46 percent of the workforce, resulting in eight million lost workdays nationwide or $2 billion in lost wages and $4 billion spent in medical and mental health care costs due to this epidemic.”
County Probation Director John Osterhout reminded those in need of assistance from domestic violence to contact law enforcement or the Women’s Center for help.
