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.
read it here

Saved from suicide atop Bethlehem’s Steel Stacks

21 hours as a crisis negotiator atop Bethlehem’s Steel Stacks

Leighvalleylive.com
By Sara K. Satullo
July 21, 2019

Through it all, they just kept talking to 25-year-old Jonathan David Wallace, letting him know they were ready when he wanted to talk or come down. Authorities have said they believe Wallace was suicidal.

Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Over nearly 22 hours last weekend, the Bethlehem police crisis negotiation team’s delicate work played out hundreds of feet in the air above the city as negotiators tried to convince a 25-year-old man to come down from a beam atop the iconic and deteriorating former Steel blast furnaces.

As Wallace paced atop the SteelStacks shouting unintelligibly, police used a drone to capture a photo of the Berks County man and harnessed the power of social media to identify him by posting the photo to the department’s official Facebook page.

With the help of the Allentown police negotiation team, they worked in two-hour shifts, first through the dark of night on an unsafe structure and into Saturday’s unrelenting summer sun as temperatures climbed to 86 degrees and the rusting stacks became broiling hot.

Kott found herself several hours away at a family wedding as the situation unfolded in Bethlehem, assisting the team remotely as they tried to identify the climber, while Detective Moses Miller, the assistant team leader, took charge of the scene. (Kott declined to get into certain specifics about Wallace’s situation due to the pending criminal case.)

Wallace was taken to St. Luke’s hospital on an involuntary mental health commitment. He was arraigned on Thursday on a felony count of risking catastrophe and related charges and jailed after he could not post bail.
read it here

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild "without specific training in mental health, we cannot recognize and act on the warning signs"

Op-ed by U.S. Rep. Susan Wild: ‘I can only make sense of the loss of my partner in life if I can save someone else’s life’

THE MORNING CALL
JUN 30, 2019

I didn’t run for Congress thinking that suicide prevention and awareness would be a cornerstone of my platform. Yes, I was aware of the pressing problem of veteran suicide, and that the number of suicides has increased dramatically. Never, however, did I think that this issue would become so very personal to me. Sadly, on May 25th, it did. On that day, the person who was my best friend, confidante, and partner in life, took his own life.

I cannot begin to describe the impact of receiving a phone call from an unknown police officer, telling me that my beloved had committed suicide. Disbelief was my first reaction, so much so that I thought it was a prank call. Fairly quickly, however, my mind gathered the warning signs that had existed, and which, sadly, I did not act upon with enough urgency.

For those who think I am assigning blame to myself for this act, and who have rushed to reassure me that there was nothing I could have done to stop this act of madness, you should know I have gotten to a place of peace in terms of my role. Because I now realize that without specific training in mental health, we cannot recognize and act on the warning signs, unless we learn more.

So it has become a new part of my mission to do as much good as I can in this public position I now occupy. Having only recently experienced this tragic loss, I am not yet an expert on the subject. However, I intend to become one. I can only make sense of the loss of my partner in life if I can save someone else’s life, and, just as importantly, can save another family from the devastation of losing their loved one to suicide.
read it here

You still matter even with an "other than honorable discharge"

Other-than-honorable discharge?

VAntage Point
Department of Veterans Affairs
Hans Peterson
May 15, 2019

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made mental health care treatment available to former service members with other-than-honorable (OTH) administrative discharges through two new programs.

One service, initiated in 2017, is specifically focused on expanding access to assist former OTH service members who are in mental health distress and may be at risk for suicide or other adverse behaviors.

The department’s Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers are prepared to offer emergency stabilization care for former service members who arrive at the facility with a mental health need.

Former service members with an OTH administrative discharge may receive care for their mental health emergency for an initial period of up to 90 days, which can include inpatient, residential or outpatient care.

During this time, VHA and the Veterans Benefits Administration will work together to determine if the mental health condition is a result of a service-related injury, making the service member eligible for ongoing coverage for that condition.

A second initiative focuses on the implementation of Public Law 115-141. With this implementation, VA notified former service members of the mental and behavioral health care they may now be eligible for and sent out over 475,000 letters to inform former service members about this care.

The letters (sample follows) explained what they may be eligible for, how long they may be able to receive care and how they can get started.

“You are receiving this notification because you may be eligible for services from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Congress recently passed legislation that allows VA to provide ongoing mental and behavioral health care to certain former service members with Other Than Honorable (OTH) discharges, including those who

Were on active duty for more than 100 days and served in a combat role, or
Experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault while serving.

The rate of death by suicide among Veterans who do not use VA care is increasing at a greater rate than Veterans who use VA care; according to agency mental health officials. This is a national emergency that requires bold action. VA will do all that we can to help former service members who may be at risk. When we say even one Veteran suicide is one too many, we mean it.

In 2018, 1,818 individuals with an OTH discharge received mental health treatment, three times more than the 648 treated in 2017.

There was a total of 2,580 former servicemembers with an OTH discharge that received care in 2018 in VHA. Of these, 1,818 received treatment in Mental Health Services. Of the 2,580 servicemembers with OTH discharge, 1,076 had a mental health diagnosis.

Additionally, VA may be able to treat a mental illness presumed to be related to military service. When VA is unable to provide care, VA will work with partner agencies and will assist in making referrals for additional care as needed.

You can call or visit a VA medical center or Vet Center and let them know that you are a former service member with an OTH discharge who is interested in receiving mental health care.

Veterans in crisis should call the Veterans Crisis Line at 800-273-8255 (press 1), or text 838255.

Oklahoma veteran with PTSD sent to death by suicide?

Krysten Mischelle Gonzalez served country, sent to jail and suicide

This is one of those stories that I missed. I found it today searching for something else. It is a story that needs to be shared because it is yet one more, among a long list, of things we get oh, so wrong.

Jail inmate waited for mental health treatment bed for months before death

The Oklahoman
by SILAS ALLEN
January 13, 2019

Krysten Gonzalez, front, prepares to paint a hallway at the City Rescue Mission in 2014. At the time, Gonzalez was a part of a recovery program at the rescue mission. Gonzalez died Tuesday after being found unresponsive at the Oklahoma County jail. 

[Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman Archives]

Editor's note: If you or anyone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Find more information here.

For nearly three months before she died, Krysten Mischelle Gonzalez sat in an Oklahoma County jail cell while public defenders searched for an inpatient mental health treatment facility that would agree to accept her, the county's chief public defender says.

Gonzalez, 29, was found unresponsive in her cell about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Jail staff performed lifesaving measures before taking her to OU Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 5 p.m. The state medical examiner's office has not determined a cause of death, but jail officials say Gonzalez hanged herself.

Gonzalez had been jailed since Oct. 11 on a warrant for failure to appear. The case stems from a June 2017 incident in which an officer responding to a shoplifting call found a baggie containing 0.6 grams of meth in Gonzalez's purse.

A U.S. Army veteran, Gonzalez stated in court papers that she had been treated in the past for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. In November 2017, her Oklahoma County case was transferred to mental health court. As a part of that transfer, Gonzalez agreed to make regular appearances in mental health court. If she violated the terms of the agreement, Gonzalez would be subject to an automatic 10-year prison sentence.
read more here

The only suicide awareness events that should matter

Veterans commit suicide in public for reasons we cannot ignore

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 2, 2019

Meghan Mobbs wrote on Psychology Today "Why We Must Be Careful in How We Talk About Veteran Suicide Talking carelessly about death by suicide can make the problem worse."

This got my blood pressure up.

"We can be sensitive to the loss, venerate their service, and honor their lives without conflating their actions with martyrdom. Spreading the notion that death by suicide is an effective way to deal with our problems or a laudable form of protest may place people at greater risk for suicide."

Does it matter where they do it or does it matter more they are brought to that time in their lives when they think that is the only power they have left?

I had to reply.

Posted May 02, 2019

Public suicides
Submitted by Kathie Costos on May 2, 2019
Normally I agree with you. This time I see this a different way. We accept far too much and expect far too little.

It is acceptable for groups to run around the country pulling stunts, and having fun while raising awareness that veterans are killing themselves.

It is acceptable for members of Congress and the DOD to get away with just saying they will do something, when all they do is repeat what did not work before.

It is acceptable to write checks, send out thoughts and prayers, while we count the dead who did not need to leave.

When I got into all of this over 3 decades ago, I expected that all we had to do was break the silence and show the way other veterans and families like mine could live better lives. Now we're fighting against everyone accepting "what is" instead of paying attention to the veterans who are actually suffering.

According to the VA, we actually had better results back in 1999. Their report had the number of suicides at 20 a day and there were over 5 million more veterans living in the country at the time. The "known" number is the same but that is after over a decade of "awareness" that it was happening all along.

They need hope tomorrow can be better and information on how they can make that happen. Families need to know that they are not alone. Friends need to know what to do. All they get are slogans and stunts with no one thinking it puts the focus on suicide and not healing.

Too many people out there who know how to help, but veterans cannot find us because it is easier to share pictures of Marines running around in their underwear, push-ups and folks getting a tattoo with 22.

So, yes, they end up committing suicide because of the lack of hope that people will demand change after that "one too many" died and they hope they will be the last to go.

The question is, when exactly do we find it unacceptable they had to resort to this end, and actually do something about it?

This part also jumped out at me.

"As unpalatable as it is to admit, the war to better understand and decrease veteran suicide is just beginning."

Just beginning? Seriously? Then who the hell was I learning from at the library in 1982? Who was writing about veterans committing suicide throughout the 80's and 90's and well into the previous decade? Is that supposed to be some sort of excuse?

What about all the money that went into "awareness" and "prevention" as the numbers went up all this time? 

I wrote about them in 2007 when researching this video and found over 400 of their stories.

I also tracked countless news reports for The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War and managed to make myself so sick to my stomach, I wanted to just delete the file instead of publishing it. 

To see the numbers, read their stories and then be reminded of how many years of this being and OK result from a billion dollar a year industry, is too pathetic to tolerate.


Veterans should never have to think about killing themselves, and even less about where to do it. If we were still putting them first, they'd know we had their backs. When we find it acceptable to settle for the BS coming out of Washington, it only reinforces the fact we will settle for them suffering.

Why are reporters still sucking the life out of suicide prevention? Can anyone explain the total disregard they have for facts when they report on "suicide awareness" stunts instead of the truth?

The truth is, the "22" a day has never been true. Just read the report yourself and see what the VA said about their own report.

The truth is, even the VA does not know how many because of how many veterans were left out of the data.

Here is yet one more truth about veterans committing suicide. They already know how to die...but no one is making them aware of how to heal!

When you hear "suicide awareness event" you may think about stuff like this.

Throughout the day, theVeteran Suicide Awareness March will be going on as well. People are marching 22 miles from Richmond to Winchester with a 22 pound ruck sack. They’re on a mission to bring awareness to the issue of veteran suicide. The walk started at 6 a.m. White Hall Park and will end at VFW Post 2728 in Winchester.

Sgt Strother Memorial Ruck March and Memorial Ride This is a 22 Mile Ruck March to raise awareness for the 22 a day that we lose to veteran suicide. We have also added a motorcycle ride to the event at the request of those who can not ruck but still want to show their support and raise awareness with us.

But because those stunts have failed, veterans decided that they would do their own awareness events by committing suicide in public. 

Next time you hear about a fundraiser in your area, remember these events where the veteran gave the last thing he could...his life to try to help others like him before it was too late for them too!


Here are just some of the veterans we are supposed to just forget about?

March
⇒St. Louis VA waiting room


June Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Fort Knox soldier committed suicide at Clarksville High School
⇒Kansas VA emergency room parking lot
⇒Colorado Springs veteran with cellphone for suicide "note"
⇒Georgia veteran set himself on fire at the State Capital
⇒Virginia Norfolk Navy Yard sailor walked into helicopter blade

July Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Chicago police officer and veteran in station parking lot
⇒Florida Lecanto Community Out Patient
⇒Arizona VA hospital chapel

August Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Kansas VA employee 
⇒Indiana VA parking lot

September Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Minneapolis VA Hospital parking lot

October Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Greenville veteran recorded video that was over 4 hours long for his family.

November Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Nashville VA

December Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Florida Bay Pines
⇒US Navy Commander Vice Adm. Scott Stearney

February Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Columbus Community Hospital
⇒Ohio veteran murder-suicide live on Facebook

March Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Florida VA Riviera Beach

April Suicide Awareness Events

⇒Georgia VA 2 suicides
⇒Texas VA, 
⇒Cleveland VA 

May Suicide Awareness Events
⇒Michigan veteran committed suicide during standoff with police...

Veteran killed himself outside of Cleveland VA

Veteran dies by suicide outside Cleveland VA hospital Monday, lawmakers demand action

USA TODAY
Donovan Slack
April 29, 2019

WASHINGTON – A veteran killed himself outside the Veterans Affairs medical center in Cleveland on Monday – the fourth veteran suicide at a VA facility this month – and more than a dozen lawmakers from both parties called for more to be done to prevent veteran suicides at a rare, joint press conference on Capitol Hill.

The Cleveland death happened outside the facility's emergency room around 3 a.m., according to Melissa Bryant, chief policy officer at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who was briefed on the incident.

VA officials declined to release details about what happened, citing privacy regulations. In a statement provided to USA TODAY, they offered "deepest condolences... to the loved ones affected by this death." read more here

⥅Well, the reporters paid attention to the two veterans who committed suicide in Georgia...then the one in Texas. They missed the one in Florida and they missed the one who had been delivered to the VA by Jimmy Johns earlier, in Columbus. Oh, but his death was at Columbus Community Health emergency department in the parking lot.

So exactly when will the "one too many veteran" commit suicide before things change?

Veteran thanks officer for saving his life during crisis

Military veteran living with PTSD recalls night APD officer helped save his life

KOAT 7 News
Shellya Leggett 
April 19, 2019

"When it was going on, that was like, that was really intense and scary for me. So, it was just like, in hindsight thinking about it, you know, that guy was really, really patient and really cool with me." J Freeman

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
Albuquerque police and other agencies across New Mexico are requiring officers to get training from psychologists on how to deal with people with mental illnesses.

A man who said that training helped save his life spoke to KOAT. J Freeman is a six-year Army and Air Force veteran who lives with post-traumatic stress disorder. He said without the help of Albuquerque Police Department officer Phillip Meier, he might not be here to tell his story.

Freeman said he spent some time overseas in Kuwait and Iraq but has been home since 2003 and lives every day with PTSD.

"It's not always easy to have a conversation with someone, and when it's a police officer or anyone, especially when they have weapons on them, it just makes you all the more defensive and agitated," Freeman said.

About a week ago, he had a PTSD crisis.

"If I was agitated, if this were two years ago, this would have been a completely different ending," Freeman said.

He needed help, and two-year APD officer and five-year Navy veteran Phillip Meier was there.
read more here

New approach to dealing with veterans in crisis

Veterans talking veterans back from the brink: A new approach to policing and lives in crisis

The Washington Post
By Rob Kuznia
March 20, 2019

At its core is the belief that veterans are often best equipped to talk brethren back from the brink — and to guide them to services. Since the program’s launch in September, local law enforcement agencies answering such 911 calls have dispatched not only deputies or officers but also two-person teams from the Veterans Affairs hospital in Long Beach.

After a parking-lot consultation with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, Veterans Affairs social worker Shannon Teague gets ready to respond to a veteran showing signs of paranoia and other mental distress. (Allison Zaucha for The Washington Post)

The duos have responded to more than 125 emergencies. A Vietnam vet whose thoughts had become so bleak he’d hung a noose in his backyard.

LOS ANGELES — The former Army soldier was slumped in the back seat of a sheriff’s department squad car when Shannon Teague and Tyrone “T-bone” Anderson arrived on the scene. A couple of hours earlier, high on meth, he’d been yelling “you will die” from the front porch of a transition house for homeless veterans.

Teague made the introductions. Neither she nor Anderson wore a uniform, except for the patch on their jackets and the ID tags clipped to their shirts.

“I’m a social worker, and this is my partner, T-bone,” she told the man. “We are from the VA. You’re not in trouble.”

Encounters such as this one represent a new approach to dealing with veterans in crisis. Against the backdrop and heartache of their persistently high suicide rates, authorities are touting the Los Angeles County program as a breakthrough in policing that could save lives.
read more here

Navy Veteran arrested after threats at VA Outpatient Center

Bethlehem man charged after threats, standoff

The Morning Call
Andrew Scott
February 14, 2019

A 30-year-old man is awaiting a court hearing on charges of threatening to shoot police during a standoff at his Bethlehem apartment, prompting the evacuation of his apartment building, three days after reportedly threatening to “shoot up” the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Center in South Whitehall.

Jonathan Simmons, 30, of Bethlehem, is awaiting a court hearing on charges of threatening to shoot police during a Feb. 5 standoff, prompting the evacuation of his apartment building. (FILE PHOTO / THE MORNING CALL)

U.S. Navy veteran Jonathan Simmons was arraigned this week on charges of terroristic threats in connection with the Feb. 5 incident at his Allwood Drive apartment building.

On Feb. 2, Simmons caused a disturbance at the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Center on Hamilton Street, South Whitehall, during which he used his fingers to mime firing a gun and threatened to “shoot up” the building.

On Feb. 4, Lehigh County Crisis staff went to Simmons’ Allwood Drive apartment and tried serving him with a warrant to involuntarily commit him to a mental health facility. Simmons refused to go with the crisis staff, which led to a standoff ending with them staff leaving his apartment without him.
read more here

PTSD UK: more mental health evacuations than physical wounded

Mental health evacuations in the forces

AirMed and Rescue
Wed, 02/06/2019

Military mental health

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) have addressed figures released under the Freedom of Information Act which highlight that one in 10 military personnel evacuations are due to mental health problems.

Over the last year, 121 servicemen and women operating abroad were flown back to the UK as a result of mental health conditions, which include depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and stress. Second only to limb injuries, more people were evacuated for mental health problems than limb disorders, heart problems or spinal injuries.

Personnel evacuated were flown back to the UK to receive medical treatment and had the option to either return to operations abroad or stay in the UK following their treatment. However, figures released omit some instances, such as those where mental health issues were dealt with without the patient returning to the UK, and those of patients travelling on a commercial airline.

Figures taken between October 2017 and September 2018 show that those most likely to be evacuated over mental health are Army personnel, with 69 evacuations throughout the period. The Royal Navy are second most likely, with 35 evacuations, and the Royal Air Force (RAF) had 17 evacuations in the period described. Indeed, the proportion of mental health-related evacuations almost doubled: from 6.3 per cent between 2003 and 2010 to 12.4 per cent between 2017 and 2018. These figures come after a MoD statistical report found in January 2019 that Army personnel were at the highest risk of all three forces of deliberate self-harm during service.
read more here

31 law enforcement officers have taken their own lives since 1-1-19

Local deputy's death sparks conversation about police suicides

KWTX 10 News
By Rissa Shaw
Feb 12, 2019

So far in 2019, at least 31 law enforcement officers have taken their own lives, including a young McLennan County jail deputy who graduated from the police academy less than a year ago.

WACO, Texas (KWTX) The recent death of a McLennan County deputy is creating awareness about police suicide.

"We deal with quite a few suicides in the county, but it's very different when one of your own people takes their own life," said Sheriff Parnell McNamara. "It's always a very sad thing when you lose one of your own."

For the third year in a row, police suicides have outnumbered line of duty deaths, according Blue H.E.L.P., a non-profit run by active and retired officers advocating for greater mental health resources for law enforcement.

"The heart of an officer is to do what is right by everyone and to do the best job that we can, and sometimes, we need help," said Lydia Alvarado, Chief of Police for the City of Bellmead.

Alvarado, who's been teaching mental health peace officer certification courses since 2003 and critical incident training (CIT) since 2005, is considered a local expert in mental health as it relates to law enforcement.
read more here

Military Suicides went Up...so DOD wants to cut mental health providers?

When does the DOD get a clue that what they are doing failed and they have not even thought of why it did? We figured it out back in 2009~

Military Mulls Medical Personnel Cuts Even as Suicide Rates Rise

Military.com
By Gina Harkins
February 11, 2019

The Defense Department is weighing the option of cutting thousands of uniformed medical personnel, including psychologists and other mental-health professionals, even as military leaders grapple with rising suicide rates among troops.

With the National Defense Strategy pushing for a more lethal force, Pentagon leaders are considering slashing as many as 17,000 uniformed medical corps billets across all the services.

The move, which could go into effect in October 2020, would open more slots for troops in combat-arms specialties or other warfighting jobs.

Thousands of those uniformed personnel serve as psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, counselors and nurses. And, as the number of active-duty troops taking their own lives reaches a six-year high, military advocates say now is not the time to consider cuts to those fields.

"Suicide and mental health are our top priority at [Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America] because of the serious impact these issues are having on our community," said Jeremy Butler, the new chief executive officer for the organization, which represents and advocates for post-9/11 vets. "I am concerned about any cut in resources signaling that DoD is not making these matters as high a priority as we do."
read more here

#MissingVeteranAlert Alabama Ron Humbers

EXCLUSIVE: Search for missing Veteran with mental illness continues

NBC 15 News
Patrick Thomas
February 9, 2019

CARBON HILL, Ala. — Investigators in Walker County are still looking for a missing veteran, who hasn't been heard from in a month.

ABC 33/40 was the only station in Carbon Hill as search crews used a cadaver dog to look for Ron Humbers.

The police chief says it's given people in the area an uneasy feeling ever when he first learned Humbers was missing.
read more here

Researcher "listening to the dead" to prevent more suicides

'Like hearing their voices': Researcher analyzes suicide notes to save lives

CTV News
Daniel Otis, CTVNews.ca Writer
Avis Favaro, Medical Specialist, CTV National News
Elizabeth St. Philip, CTV News
Published Sunday, January 27, 2019

The search for clues about why people choose to die by suicide often starts with the words they leave behind. Dr. Rahel Eynan, a scientist with the Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ont., is unravelling such mysteries one heart-wrenching note at a time.

“When I’ll open a file, in my head I’ll say, ‘Tell me your story,’” she told CTV News. “Sometimes you actually can feel the pain of the individual that wrote them.”

In a 2018 study published by The American Association of Suicidology, Eynan analyzed 383 suicide notes left by children as young as 11 and adults as old as 98 to find signs that can be used to identify and help others who are at risk.

“About 57 per cent expressed love for others,” she explained. “Very few expressed that they felt loved… About 53 per cent expressed ‘sorry’ and apologies.”

Half, Eynan also found, were escaping illness, physical or psychological pain.

“They are so constricted in their thinking that they don’t see any other option -- the only option is to die,” she said.
read more here

Privacy Law protects first responders being treated for PTSD

New Law Protects Privacy of First Responders Seeking Mental Health Treatment

NECN
Karen Hensel
January 16, 2019

Those stories included the night that Boston Police Sgt. Brian Fleming recalled nearly took his own life. It was his first time the now-retired officer and peer support counselor talked about what happened. "I took a gun out, put it to my head," Fleming said. "I wanted to die."

Massachusetts police officers and firefighters say a new bill signed into law Wednesday will allow them to ask for help and will save lives.

Surrounded by first responders and lawmakers, Gov. Charlie Baker signed the bill allowing first responders to seek guidance from their peers confidentially. They say that one-on-one conversation with someone who has also been through similar experiences will help them cope with the traumatic events experienced in the line of duty.

They say they can now confide without fear the conversation will be used against them on the job.

"Providing law enforcement officers with the ability to confidentially seek guidance from their peers will help them cope with the events they experience in the line of duty," said Baker. "We are thankful for the Legislature and law enforcement for their advocacy on this bill to increase support for services and reduce stigma around mental health issues. I am glad people saw it through and got it done."
read more here

Still think that sending veterans into private care is good for them?

Kaiser patients speak out about lengthy waits for mental health therapy

The Press Democrat
ALEXANDRIA BORDAS
December 15, 2018

“You either become dead or more depressed in this system. I lost everything going through this experience and now I have nothing else to lose. Now, I am unafraid to speak out.” Jessica Held

Time and again, Jessica Held called Kaiser’s mental health department in Santa Rosa pleading for help.

Feelings of severe anxiety and depression would weigh on her, but weren’t yet at alarming heights. In those moments, she didn’t want to harm herself or others, although she strongly believed she needed extra support from someone — anyone — available to see her at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa.

But she never received the immediate help she desired.

Held said she was consistently told there wasn’t anyone available for individual therapy for at least a month because she wasn’t in a crisis situation, despite being a Kaiser patient since 2001. Instead, Kaiser offered to place her in group therapy.

Held’s story and others like it received new attention this week as Kaiser mental health workers staged a five-day statewide strike against the nonprofit health care system. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents psychologists, therapists and clinical social workers, ended their strike on Friday.

Union members say patients must wait four to six weeks, on average, for individual therapy appointments because Kaiser has not hired enough mental health workers to properly treat its members. Many who need individual care are funneled into group therapy, union members say.
read more here

UPDATE
Just a reminder: 

VA hospitals outperform private hospitals in most markets, according to Dartmouth study

PTSD Vietnam veteran died getting out of moving ambulance

Jury awards $7 million to family of Vietnam vet who died after climbing out of moving ambulance

Chicago Tribune
Mike Nolan
December 14, 2018

Bonamarte said the ambulance was traveling at about 30 to 35 miles per hour when Stein climbed out, and he suffered multiple injuries, including head and rib fractures. Lawyers speculated that confusion brought on by PTSD prompted Stein to leave the ambulance.

A jury has awarded $7 million to the family of Patrick Stein, shown, who died in July 2014 after climbing out of a moving ambulance. (Law firm of Levin and Perconti)

Cook County Circuit Court jury has awarded $7 million to the family of a Vietnam veteran from the south suburbs who died in 2014 after climbing out of a moving ambulance, according to an attorney who represented the family.

Patrick Stein, 64, who lived in Matteson at the time, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after two tours of duty in Vietnam, according to the law firm Levin and Perconti.

The verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit was reached late Wednesday, Michael Bonamarte, an attorney with the firm, said Friday.

Stein had been brought to St. James Olympia Fields Hospital in July 2014 after his family had found him outside his daughter’s home with a butcher knife clutched to his abdomen, according to the firm.

Medical staff at the hospital diagnosed the man as having an altered mental status, acute confusion and suicidal behavior, according to the firm, and recommended Stein be transferred to Edward Hines Veterans Affairs hospital in Maywood, where psychiatric services were available. While at St. James, Stein didn’t recall the episode with the knife, according to the firm.
read more here