VA & Suicide Prevention
Veteran substance abuse and suicide prevention continues to be a topic of concern for those who served, especially in the wars of the last two decades.
Concerns about the level of care the Department of Veterans Affairs is long standing and not surprising due to all the expected problems you have with large, bureaucratic, government departments.
Gaps in care and waiting lists are one thing - but not all the problems vets face can survive a waiting list - especially those who are thinking about suicide.
If you have someone in your life who has suffered from deep depression or thoughts of suicide, then you know how time critical things can be for them to get help and recover before they take actions that they cannot return from.
Minutes matter. For some, they will only open a window for help for a brief time before it closes again.
30 days. Should a veteran who needs help working through suicidal thoughts have to wait 30 days?
In the below video from yesterday’s hearing on "Combatting a Crisis: Providing Veterans Access to Life-saving Substance Abuse Disorder Treatment" in the Subcommittee on Health Oversight, I’d recommend you go to the 1:20 mark where the conversation starts between Representative Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) and friend to the blog and all around mensch Tom Sauer.
This isn’t about bashing the VA, but looking at ways the VA can bring in other organizations and service providers - and change expectations - to better address a problem that no one thinks is getting the attention it needs.
Listen to the end as the comments by Representative Mariannette Jane Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and Representative Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) are also well worth listening to.
Miller-Meeks commentary about how one treats “red eye” vs how we react to suicidal thoughts brings the issue to the front.
30 days to get help? Should be 30 hours.
Actually having seen the way the VA operates I'd say NO, the suicide thinking person needs to see an outside doctor, The VA is woefully inadequate to even X-Ray and busted toe, with my X-Ray being put on hold due to a broken X-Ray machine, every 30 days per instruction I called and the machine was still Broken, 90 days later I went to an outside doctor. Then there is audiology, a broken hearing aid sent me to call Audio for help, eight calls long waits just to have the phone hung up.
I had to go to a Vets advocate to even get started and here I sit three months later without my left hearing aid. Calling to even make an appointment results in a long time ringing just to have the phone hung up, My family listened to this Charade on speaker phone during a two hour ordeal.
The VA cannot or will not handle Suicides.
Sorry, but all I use them for is Service connected services.
If reality is relative, perhaps VA should be judged by comparable civilian standards. In my state, if you find someone who needs care for addiction, the SOP is a bed will be available in 5 to 6 months. That is, relatively speaking, 30 days is a good deal better. I found it ironic to understand that a person who can wait upwards of half a year does not truly need care. The system generally - at least here - is badly failing. In rural parts of the USA, the SOP is to send the patient to a city. Indeed, in remote Alaska, the primary coping mechanism of a village is to put the patient on a plane with a one way ticket. The village is almost never going to be able to cope with local resources.