VA Suicide prevention programs in place

The question is, if the numbers keep going up, do they know if any of the "programs" are really working?

VA IG: Suicide prevention programs in place

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Sep 22, 2009 11:36:52 EDT

WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department says it has stepped up its suicide prevention efforts.

The agency’s inspector took a look at 24 facilities and found they generally met new requirements such as appointing suicide prevention coordinators to track high-risk veterans. It did say the coordinators and medical providers could do a better job of communicating with each other.

The VA estimates there are as many as 6,400 suicides annually among all veterans.

New policies were implemented after growing concern about the number of suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
Suicide prevention programs in place