PORTLAND, OR — The U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary is in Oregon this week, for a national VA and Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Conference. Around 2400 mental health experts and veterans advocates are meeting through Thursday at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. This is the first time the biennial conference has come to Oregon. "This is the largest ever gathering of VA and Department of Defense mental health professionals to focus on this crisis of active duty and veteran suicide," says VA Secretary Denis McDonough. "It’s not a mistake that we’re doing it here in Oregon, which is a state with a higher rate of veteran suicide." He has one primary message for vets, "It is not weakness but strength to get care." McDonough says some people don’t ask for help because of the stigma, but others still don’t know help is available from the VA for free. With the new Compact Act , veterans have more access to emergency suicide care, "Whether you are an enrolled veteran at VA, or whether you are not enrolled at VA, you can go to any hospital – VA hospital, public hospital, private hospital, any hospital in the country, and you will get that care and we will pay for that care." An estimated 50,000 vets have utilized that expanded benefit.
McDonough says there’s now a concerted effort to reach a specific group of vets, "To our Vietnam veterans who are not yet enrolled at VA, here’s one thing I want you to know: We’re going to be contacting you over the course of these next several weeks, by email, by phone call and by text. And we’re going to do that for a simple reason: We want a relationship with you. We want you to come get care with VA." He says they may be eligible for expanded health services through the PACT Act .
The Veterans Crisis Line connected with the 988 Crisis Line two years ago. Since then, McDonough says around two-million vets have called to receive help. "So, please, if you are in crisis, if there’s a […]
US VA Secretary Speaks In Oregon On Preventing Veteran Suicide