Marine Jeffrey Lucey's family still fighting for others

Helping Veterans Return From War and Prevent Suicide
Story Published: Feb 12, 2008 at 7:35 PM EST
Story Updated: Feb 12, 2008 at 7:35 PM EST
By Justine Judge
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A Belchertown family has helped launch a program to aid veterans at risk of committing suicide. Kevin Lucey of Belchertown says in 2005, 120 veterans per week committed suicide.His son was one of them and ever since, the family has fought to help soldiers who suffer the psychological scars of war. Now, there's a new program to help them in Massachusetts.
When Lucey's son, 23 year old Marine Jeffrey Lucey came home from Iraq, his family knew something was wrong. He he was distant and depressed, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.The Lucey's sought help from the VA Medical Center where no treatment was found. Less than a year after returning home to Belchertown, Jeffrey killed himself. The tragedy motivated the Lucey's to fight for suicide prevention programs for veterans and their families. Lucey says, "They are going to do outreach instead of forcing the veterans to go into a system they are actually going to bring the system out to the veterans."The new state program is a joint effort by the Department of Veterans Services and the Department of Public Health. Veterans will travel the state, and meet other vets suffering from PTSD. Lucey says, "The veteran is going to be talking to a veteran, they're going to be using the same language, they're going to be using the same common values that exist among them."
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