In the veterans population, male veterans are twice as likely as civilians, both male and female, to commit suicide, according to a 2007 study by Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University.
The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, which includes the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center, is launching a public education campaign in Central Texas as part of a national effort to reduce suicide.
The VA is now emphasizing training at their medical centers because of the risk seen in its patient population.
The message of this outreach is “it takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help,” said Dr. James Peake, secretary of Veterans Affairs.
In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced its intent to hire suicide prevention counselors for each of its 153 medical centers. Also, each VA medical center is holding Operation SAVE training classes for its employees.
The purpose of Operation SAVE is to make nonclinical VA staff aware of the problem and give them the tools to recognize and aid the veteran who is suicidal.
“With this training we are bringing more awareness to each person’s role in preventing suicide,” said Jeremy Brogden, VA clinical social worker and suicide prevention coordinator. “Each person that works in a VA or a civilian hospital has a responsibility to ensure their patients’ needs are met and that includes preventing suicide. If you know someone is at risk, you need to follow up with them and assess that risk.”
A person who calls the suicide hotline and identifies him or herself as a veteran will talk to staff who will determine the caller’s need, which can range from a consult with a counselor to sending emergency personnel to the location of the caller, Brogden said.
During the time the VA suicide hotline has been in operation, 55,469 calls have been taken and 1,221 of those calls are considered rescues, calls from veterans who were on the verge of killing themselves.
The VA is using a number of avenues to get information out about the suicide prevention program to veterans, Brogden said.
Veterans who are patients in the psychiatry department are given the number on cards, magnets and pamphlets, he said. Other VA departments have literature available and posters are up in hallways and offices around the medical center.
Anybody calling the Temple VA number hears a message from Medical Center Director Bruce Gordon that includes the suicide hotline number, 800-273-8255.
This is a coordinated effort by national suicide prevention programs and the VA, Brogden said, and non-veterans in need of help are encouraged to call.
The staff of the suicide prevention team links veterans up with appropriate mental health care, which could include a wide range of programs - substance abuse, PTSD, depression, medication management.
“We will try to meet that veteran’s needs depending on the level of care they require,” he said. “We are not emergency providers.”
However, consults are usually done within 24 hours, Brogden said.
Those working in suicide prevention get referrals from primary care and mental health care providers.
“We try to keep the veteran in mental health care, at times as an adjunct to care they are already receiving, or we may be starting from the very beginning,” Brogden said.
The program is constantly evolving, he said.
In addition to training VA employees, Brogden said they have been charged with providing training out in the community by pooling resources.
“Hopefully, we can impact public perception in terms of suicide,” he said.
The white male age 70 and older is at the highest risk of suicide in the general population, Brogden said. There are many factors that influence this decision - loss of a spouse, being isolated or in chronic pain.
Relationships tend to trigger problems for the younger veteran more often than those in the Vietnam era population, he said.
The veteran who has just returned from Iraq or Afghanistan, where every waking moment required being on high alert, has a hard time transitioning to the quiet of home, Brogden said.
“The back-to-back deployments have also made it very difficult,” Brogden said.
Recognizing the signs of suicidal thinking can go a long way in preventing many deaths, he said.
Brogden said whenever he presents a suicide awareness program to a group outside the VA, there’s always at least one person who comes up to him after the presentation and talks about how someone’s suicide has affected him.
“I always wonder how many others sitting in the seats just got up and left without saying anything,” he said.
Each patient is different and some veterans are resistant to treatment, but every success makes the work rewarding, Brogden said.
