Six years of "mental health strategic plan" saved 250 lives a year?

One life saved is wonderful but when you think that 18 a day have taken their own lives, discovering that after six years of "mental health strategic plan" has only produced this, we should all be very, very concerned. The suicide prevention hotline has been up and running a couple of years now yet we still see the numbers of suicides in the military and among the veteran population go up along with more and more veterans calling the hotline. If the military and the VA had it finally right, why then would they ever reach the point where they were calling a "suicide" prevention line instead of a doctor or mental health provider? Anyone bother asking this question? Any reporters out there ever even begin to wonder? How could they just keep saying they have a plan, they have a system, they have a program, when the results are this lousy?

VA Strives to Prevent Veteran Suicides
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2010 – With more than 6,000 veterans committing suicide every year –- and 98 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan taking their own lives during fiscal 2009 alone -- the Department of Veterans Affairs is redoubling its outreach to veterans and promoting its toll-free suicide-prevention hotline.

National statistics show that veterans constitute about 20 percent of the 30,000 to 32,000 U.S. deaths each year from suicide. Of an average of 18 veterans who commit suicide each day, about five receive care through the VA health-care system. More than 60 percent of those five had diagnosed mental-health conditions.

Dr. Janet E. Kemp, VA’s national suicide prevention coordinator, is committed to improving those statistics. She’s heading up an aggressive outreach program to address problems that lead to suicide, and to ensure veterans as well as their loved ones know where to turn for help.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Kemp cited mounting evidence that veterans in the 18- to 29-year-old age group who use VA health-care services are less likely to commit suicide than those who don’t.

Based on statistical comparisons between the two groups, she estimated that 250 fewer veterans enrolled in the VA system take their own lives each year. She credited VA’s screening and assessment processes designed to identify high-risk patients and provide intervention, as needed.

Yet, during fiscal 2009, 707 members of the general veteran population died at their own hands, and another 10,665 made unsuccessful suicide attempts. In addition to the 98 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who committed suicide – 94 men and four women – there were 1,868 who made non-fatal attempts on their lives. Of these, 1,621 were men and 247 were women, reflecting trends in the general U.S. population.

“Just one death is one too many,” said Dr. Antonette Zeiss, deputy chief for mental health services at VA’s central office. “The bottom line is, the efforts we put into enhancing overall mental health services have correlated with the reduction of suicide,” especially among males who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Alarmed by an increase in suicides among this population between 2003 and 2004, VA adopted a comprehensive mental health strategic plan in 2004 that has helped to bring the numbers down.
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