Mercy Health - Lourdes driving awareness of domestic violence with special light display

In partnership with Merryman House Domestic Crisis Center, Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital will be displaying purple lights in observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

From October 10-16, the purple lights will shine alongside pink ones marking October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month on the Marshall Nemer Medical Office Building.

The Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that during the pandemic in 2020, domestic violence homicides were up by 75 percent.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence:

• One in four women and one in seven men have been victims of severe physical violence in their lifetime
• On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States, which equates to more than 10 million women and men in one year
• There have been 477-gun related domestic violence fatalities so far this year
• In Kentucky, 45.3% of Kentucky women and 35.5% of Kentucky men report experiencing intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner rape and/or rape in their lifetimes
•Kentucky has the 11th highest femicide rate in the United States

"The importance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month is to create community awareness of this issue," says Sharon Dicicco, a nurse practitioner with Mercy Health – Paducah Obstetrics and Gynecology. "The observance is more important than ever, especially as the number of people staying home due to COVID-19 has greatly increased the potential for abuse of all types inside and outside the home."