Veteran casually mentioned suicide plans at routine appointment

VA staff’s instant action prevents a Veteran suicide

VAntage
by Kristen Parker
September 25, 2019

Many common risk factors for suicide are treatable. As a community, we can #BeThere and save Veterans lives through stories of hope and recovery.

In the photo above, Cleveland VA’s lifesaving team includes (from left) Jose Rivera (ED nurse manager), Kimberly Miller (infusion clinic nurse), Jennifer Davis (dietitian), Erin Valenti (infusion clinic nurse manager), Alexandra Murray (psychiatry intern) and Rocco Burke (police officer). 

It’s not often that we talk about suicide in terms of lives saved, but recently, the Cleveland VA team saved a Veteran from ending his life.

He came in for his medical appointment for treatment just like any other day. During a casual conversation with a VA team member, he shared his plan for suicide. He had lost hope and didn’t feel he had anything more to offer.

The VA team member wasn’t a mental health provider, a nurse or a doctor, but is a compassionate VA employee who knew how to #BeThere. The VA team member immediately engaged members of the Veteran’s treatment team.

They showed compassion and talked with the Veteran about his needs and together, then they developed a plan that helped him feel safe.

Every member of the VA team flawlessly executed their role to save this Veteran’s life. They got him to the emergency department and, eventually, to the psychiatric assessment and observation center for further treatment.
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Luis Carlos Montalvan beloved service dog Tuesday passed away at 13

Service dog whose story raised awareness of PTSD has died

The Associated Press
By: Pat Eaton-Robb
September 24, 2019

Montalvan took his own life in 2016. He had left Tuesday with family members and the dog was not with him at the time.

HARTFORD, Conn. — A service dog that was the subject of several books by an Iraq war veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder has died.

In this Dec. 16, 2016, photo, Tuesday, a golden retriever, poses in Bethel, Conn. (Cyrus McCrimmon/Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities via AP)

Tuesday, a golden retriever, was 13 when he died Tuesday in Burlington, according to Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities, a service dog training organization that places dogs with veterans.

Tuesday gained fame touring the country with former Army Capt. Luis Carlos Montalvan, who wrote the memoir “Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him.”

The book, the first of four written by Montalvan about his life with Tuesday, became a bestseller in 2011. It was credited with helping raise awareness of PTSD and the availability of service dogs for veterans.

Montalvan was a decorated veteran, who was wounded in Iraq and earned two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

After he came home, his extreme PTSD often prevented him from even leaving his apartment, said Dale Picard, co-founder and executive director of ECAD.
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72-year-old Marine Corps veteran died of "egregious neglect" at Minnesota "Care Center"

Ex-care center owner charged with manslaughter in Marine veteran’s death

The Associated Press
By: Steve Karnowski
September 24, 2019  

The second-degree manslaughter count cited the case of a 72-year-old Marine Corps veteran, identified only as R.M., who died last October of septic shock, an untreated urinary tract infection and other complications resulting from improper medical care and neglect. The investigators said doctors and nurses who treated him at a Duluth hospital just before his death found a “filthy” catheter and a 1-square-foot pressure sore on his tailbone that was draining a “foul smelling liquid,” a wound they said resulted from “utter, complete neglect.”

(thinkstock.com)

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s attorney general’s office said Tuesday that it has charged 10 people with 76 criminal counts following an investigation into the death of a 72-year-old man and what it described as egregious neglect of other patients at a northern Minnesota care center.

The most serious charges include racketeering, swindling and manslaughter counts against Theresa Lee Olson, 43, the former owner of the now-closed center, Chappy’s Golden Shores in Hill City. Olson is also accused of bilking the state’s Medicaid program out of nearly $2.2 million. The facility had been the subject of repeated disciplinary and administrative actions by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Department of Human Services, the attorney general’s office said.

“My office is holding these defendants accountable for what we believe we can prove is systematic, intolerable abuse and neglect that in one case led to death, not to mention widespread fraud, theft, and other charges that hurt everyone,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.
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Nursing assistant accused of ripping off disabled amputee veteran with PTSD and dementia

Nursing Assistant Accused Of Taking Money From Disabled Veteran

Patch.com
By D'Ann Lawrence White, Patch Staff
Sep 25, 2019

BAYONET POINT, FL — A 38-year-old nursing assistant was arrested after Pasco County Sheriff's deputies said she took money from a disabled veteran with dementia.

A 38-year-old nursing assistant was arrested after Pasco County Sheriff's deputies said she stole money from a disabled veteran with dementia. (Pasco Sheriff)

Allyn Lopez of Shade Street Court in Hudson was charged with exploitation of the elderly/disabled Tuesday after the sheriff's office said she had her patient write two checks to her totaling $6,000.

The patient, who is also an amputee, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and dementia in 2017. The sheriff's office said Lopez befriended the patient while working as a certified nursing assistant from October 2016 and July 2019 at the Bayonet Point assisted living facility where he lives.
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Playing Candy Crush in the lobby of the VA so you can say you showed up for them?

Having a "fun run" because veterans are killing themselves is repulsive!

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 25, 2019

It is heartbreaking when you read about a veteran wanting to do something because he lost buddies he cared about. Noble reasons to want to prevent someone else from committing suicide, dose not mean the endeavor is the right one.

Once again, a veteran lost a buddy after seeing "dark in nature" Facebook posts posts and then a link to Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Cruel World." This suicide was number 7 of his friends. 

What did he decide to do? He decided to host a fundraiser for Mission 22 and have a "fun run" along with a Chinese Silent Auction.

“We just felt like we had to do something, said General Manager Joshua Hawkins of The Firing Pin. “We have never done something like this here. This is our first one and I’m hoping this will turn into something we do every year, and I’m hoping we can raise a lot of money for them.”

The day will feature a 2.2k fun run, with registration starting at 10 a.m. and the run itself an hour later. Food trucks will be available 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with live music from 1 to 4 p.m.

A chinese and silent auction will take place through 5 p.m. while an Eli Fish Brewing Co. craft beer tent will be available 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Raise a lot of money for them? Seriously? Repeating a false number is not worth a dime or anyone's time!

The question raised in the article of "Why aren’t people more aware of suicide among military personnel and veterans?" proved how all these "awareness" stunts do nothing to prevent suicides.

People all over the country have been making veterans aware of something they knew all too well, how to die. What they did not know was how to heal. They still do not even know they can.

There was a time when I abstained from attacked events like this. I thought if they were trying to make a difference, it was better than nothing. The problem is, that is all they are doing. 

They had no knowledge of what was in the reports they quote but worse, they did had no basic knowledge of what was missing from the data. They did not know the history behind decades of earnest efforts to change the outcome, instead of having "fun" events after the fact.

It produces the same result for veterans in crisis as playing Candy Crush in the lobby of the VA so you can say you showed up for them. You may convince yourself you did something for them, but it was a worthless effort that did nothing for them!

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

You can defeat PTSD!

Vietnam Veteran inspires after being imprisoned as POW

‘We made it:’ Local Vietnam veteran shares his POW story

WINK
Reporter:Erika Jackson
Writer: Briana Harvath
September 20, 2019

1,882 days; five and a half years. That’s how long Vietnam veteran Wayne Smith was a prisoner of war.

“We were in pretty bad shape, we certainly were,” said Smith.

He shared his story with us and dozens of people at Punta Gorda’s Military Heritage Museum.

The Air Force captain’s aircraft got shot down in 1968, just hours after this photo.

Now, he’s detailing his time in solitary confinement when communication was rare, but crucial.

“We used to break our knuckles by tapping on the walls and someone found out that actually, you could put the cup up against the wall, yell through it, and the other guy could listen to the other side,” said Smith.

Captured one warehouse over: prisoner of war survivor, Senator John McCain.

“We talked about anything,” said Smith. “It was important to stay in touch with each other.”

For two years, his family didn’t know if he was alive. Then, a released POW remembered his name.

“One of the things we thought was so important, any time we could, we would pass along names so in case someone made out, then we would tell the families,” said Smith.

Released during Operation Homecoming in 1973, the Naples man has shared his experience with people all over Southwest Florida.

A story, at one point, he didn’t know if he’d ever tell.

“We made it. And we survived because of each other,” he said.
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