Do Not Pay the Price of Service With Your Life

About a week ago I got into a conversation with a young veteran about suicide. There have been numerous reports of veterans calling the Suicide Hotline and not getting the help they needed when they needed it. I asked her why they do not just call 911 and ask for help.  She said they do not want to get stuck with the bill.

Stunning I know but it very well may play a part in veteran in crisis not wanting to add more burden on their shoulders.

While Enhanced Eligibility for VA Healthcare has extended free care for combat veterans up to 5 years, too many veteran do not use it.  

Who's Eligible?
Veterans, including activated Reservists and members of the National Guard, are eligible if they served on active duty in a theater of combat operations after November 11, 1998, and have been discharged under other than dishonorable conditions.

• Eligible combat Veterans will have free medical care and medications for any condition that may be related to their service in theater.

• Immediate benefits of health care coverage.

• No enrollment fee, monthly premiums or deductibles.

• Low or no out-of-pocket costs.  During the five-year post discharge timeframe, there may be small medical care or prescription drug copayments for medical care for any condition not related to combat theater.   See our Copayment page for more information. (Copayment page)

• Once enrolled, the Veteran will remain enrolled.

• Enrollment with VA satisfies the health care law’s requirement to have health care coverage. 

• Medical care rated among the best in the United States.

• More than 1,700 places available to get health care.

• Choice Card Program eligibility.Click here for more information

• VA health care can be used along with Medicare and any other health insurance coverage.

And this part is something else to pay attention to.

Copays
Veterans who qualify under this special eligibility are not subject to copays for conditions potentially related to their combat service. However, unless otherwise exempted, combat Veterans must either disclose their prior year gross household income OR decline to provide their financial information and agree to make applicable copays for care or services VA determines are clearly unrelated to their military service.

If you know a veteran in crisis and they cannot get help from the Crisis line, have them call 911 and ask for fire rescue. I have talked to firefighters and police officers about this.  If you call for police, what happens is a veteran in crisis can find themselves under more stress when they see a police officer yet when a firefighter shows up, there is less stress.

Most of the time police officers will go with the department just in case but are there just in case things get out of control.

Keep in mind that a lot of police officers and firefighters are also veterans. They get it! As for the bill, let the VA sort that out afterwards.  

If you are among the veteran with less than honorable discharges CALL 911 and save your life so you can fight to have the discharge changed.  There are about 140,000 of you that happened to adding to the veterans from previous wars having their discharges changed. Do not pay the cost of service with your life!

PTSD Veteran Waited Days After Calling Crisis Line

Veterans Crisis Line following 48 hour response time
WTVM News
By Tiffaney Bradley, Reporter
June 22nd 2016

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF)
A veteran who fought in two combat tours said he was left neglected when he needed help the most. He called a crisis hotline but didn't get a response for days.

Benjamin Burks is a proud Marine.

"I did two combat tours to Iraq,” said Burks.

Now, he said he's fighting another war, post-traumatic stress disorder.

When he needed someone to talk to, he called the Veterans Crisis Line but didn't hear back for two days.

"I called back the next day which was past the 24 hours they said they would call back,” said Burks. “And,I waited another 24 hours and they did call.”

Burks worries the long wait time could be devastating for someone suffering from P.T.S.D.

"Why is there a 24-hour waiting period for somebody that could be or going to harm their self," said Burks.

Crisis Services of North Alabama is listed as a resource agency on the Veterans Crisis Line's website but there's no affiliation.
read more here

WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports

Tampa Veterans Helpline May Expand Statewide

Veterans help line program might expand statewide
Tampa Bay Rich Shopes
Times Staff Writer
Sunday, April 5, 2015

Tampa Bay has one of Florida's highest concentrations of veterans. Hillsborough and Pinellas alone are home to nearly 170,000 vets, more than double that of Miami-Dade.

TAMPA — A support line that has counseled hundreds of Tampa Bay area veterans since its launch last year may be expanded statewide under a bill moving through the state Legislature.

Begun in late October at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, the Florida Veterans' Care Coordination Program has so far counseled more than 500 vets on issues from substance abuse to chronic unemployment to post-traumatic stress disorder.

"This is about veterans helping veterans," said Bruce Grant, who helped launch the pilot program in Tampa last year as chairman of the Statewide Veterans Advisory Council.

Grant said the program operates under the Crisis Center but employs a separate toll-free line — 1-844-MYFLVET (693-5838) — to connect veterans to services. The line is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The bill would expand the Tampa Bay program to Florida's 13 other crisis centers, effectively blanketing the state.

"Most veterans out there are not asking for a handout," McPherson said. "They're just asking for a hand up."
read more here

Department of Veterans Affairs is incorrectly reporting suicide data

Veteran suicide tracking faulted
Government report says VA data is being incorrectly reported
UT San Diego
By Ashly McGlone
DEC. 31, 2014

A 24-hour confidential Veteran’s Crisis Line first established in 2007 for veterans, their families and friends fielded about 287,000 calls, 54,800 online chats, and 11,300 text messages in fiscal year 2013, the report says.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is incorrectly reporting suicide data and poorly tracks and cares for vets at risk of suicide who are prescribed antidepressants, a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office suggests.

A yearlong audit discovered multiple instances where agency protocols for treatment of veteran depression were broken, and patient and suicide data was flawed, the Dec. 12 report states.

Ten percent of those who received veteran health care in the past five years were diagnosed with major depressive disorder, or more than 532,000 veterans. Nearly all of them were prescribed antidepressants, but policies for follow-up care were rarely followed in the cases sampled, the audit states.

Independent government reviewers inspected 30 medical files for veterans prescribed antidepressants following a major depression diagnosis at six VA medical centers in New York, Florida, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada spanning fiscal years 2009 through 2013.

Twenty-six of those veterans weren’t assessed after four to six weeks as specified in the VA’s clinical practice guidelines, and 10 veterans did not receive follow-up care within the time frame recommended, the audit found.
read more here

Florida Veteran meets with VA official he was accused of threatening

Veteran meets with VA official he was accused of threatening
Tribune Staff
By Howard Altman
Published: July 2, 2014

Five days after armed agents showed up at his house investigating whether he made a threat against a top local Veterans Administration official, St. Petersburg veteran Michael Henry met with that official Wednesday morning to discuss his care.

The meeting with Suzanne Klinker, director of the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center, came after agents from the VA's Office of Inspector General visited Henry on Friday to determine if he had threatened Klinker. No charges were ultimately filed, according to a spokesman for that office.

The visit by the agents, and the meeting with Klinker, were both prompted by Henry's complaints about the level of care he is receiving at the hospital.

Friday afternoon, Henry called the VA crisis line to complain that he was experiencing a delay in care.

About 90 minutes later, two agents and two St. Petersburg police officers arrived at his house. A police report states that the agents were investigating Henry because he threatened the VA over the phone, telling an employee with the agency “that he knew where Director Suzanne Klinker lived, gave her address, and also said the name of her son who lives at the residence.”

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to press charges, according to the inspector general's office.

After Wednesday's meeting with Klinker, scheduled Monday after the Tribune contacted the Young center with questions about the threat allegations, Henry apologized to Klinker.

“I said I was sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable or made you feel weird,” Henry said he told Klinker. “I sincerely apologize for doing that. I didn't mean anything by it; I just want my health care and to be treated properly.”
read more here