Veteran suicides count according to who is filling out the death certificate...and counting

When will the government care enough to get it right for veterans?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 27, 2019

When I read about more politicians seeking answers, I had to walk away from the computer. It is nothing we have not heard before and that is the most troubling thing of all. It is the same "efforts" seeking answers but there is never anyone held accountable for what has not happened.

So, let's begin with the letter that started me off.

Charlie Crist, Gus Bilirakis Want Ron DeSantis to Help Getting Accurate Information on Veterans’ Suicide Florida Daily December 26, 2019

Dear Governor DeSantis

We write to request your help in obtaining a true and accurate count of the annual number of veteran suicides in Florida. As members of Congress from Florida’s 12th and 13th Congressional Districts, we are honored to represent more than 110,000 of the 1,500,000 veterans who call the Sunshine State home. At a joint meeting of our Veterans Advisory Boards, local veteran leaders raised concerns that veterans suicide data may not be as up-to-date or accurate as it could be. We need the most accurate data possible to effectively tackle this epidemic facing our veteran community.

As you know, Congress tasks the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report annual veterans suicide data, along with general data on mortality and life expectancy. However, because not all veterans use the VA, they also rely on a combination of U.S. Department of Defense service records and state death certificates. Unfortunately, state death certificates do not always tell the full picture. After a death, veteran status is indicated on a form filled out by a funeral home; however, when local medical examiners take over death investigations in cases of suspected suicide, they do not necessarily investigate whether the deceased is a veteran. We are concerned that this dynamic is leading to an undercount of veteran suicides. (click the link for the of the letter.)

In other words, they still do not know how many veterans have committed suicide. So when do they admit that with the known percentages rising, what they have done added to the misery veterans face everyday?

When do they hold anyone accountable for any of this? When do they demand answers as to why the "data" seems to keep changing as if they are making it all up?

When does someone hold all the charities collecting millions for "raising awareness" accountable and make them stop taking advantage of veterans?

Top all that off with veterans like this show up in a crime report along with their family members.

Man killed in Christmas Day murder-suicide suffered from PTSD, court documents say
RIO RANCHO, N.M.
According to court documents, the father found dead inside a Rio Rancho home with his wife and their two sons had just retired from the Army and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Rio Rancho police found Carlos Velasquez, 50; Marilyn Velasquez, 45; Robert Velasquez, 22; and Adrian Velasquez, 14, dead inside the family’s Rio Rancho home on Christmas Day.

All four had been shot to death. According to a search warrant, the gun was found underneath Carlos Velasquez’s body. Those documents say the couple was going through a divorce.

"It hurts me to see or hear all the screaming and the crying and the people that they've lost, just to see that was very heartbreaking for me and my family," said a neighbor who wants to remain anonymous.

 Next time you hear someone say they know how many veterans have committed suicide, make them aware of this. Then ask them "What is the point of telling veterans what they already know...how to die?"

Are you listening to Suicide Prevention?

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill Talks About Mental Health With 'Boomer And Gio'

WFAN
BOOMER AND GIO
SEPTEMBER 06, 2019

On Sunday, Entercom stations will air a two-hour “I’m Listening” special at 7 a.m. to help end the stigma about discussing mental health.

The initiative is being undertaken to help mark the start of National Suicide Prevention Week. You can call in live Sunday and join artists, athletes and medical professionals for an in-depth conversation about mental health and suicide prevention.

To help lend awareness to the issue and to Sunday’s special, Boomer and Gio were joined in studio Friday morning by NYPD police Commissioner James O’Neill, who spoke about the tragic series of police officer suicides that have recently happened in New York.

“The biggest issue that we face is having people come forward when they’re experiencing some difficulties and mental health challenges, and that’s difficult as a police officer," he said. "I don’t think anyone would argue with me there ... What do we do as cops? We protect people. It’s important that people know that it’s a sign of strength if you come forward for help.”
read it here

On the show

Photo credit NowMattersNow.org

Dr. Ursula Whiteside is a licensed clinical psychologist and the CEO of NowMattersNow.org, an organization that helps people through shared stories and mindfulness. Whiteside is a leading researcher, dealing with high-risk patients and working to develop programs to change how we approach mental health. She is also a founding board member of United Suicide Survivors International and a member of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Standards Trainings and Practices Committee.

But as a researcher, she gave the standard numbers on suicide, and saying the numbers are going down in the veteran community. We know the truth on that because they have actually gone up. We know they have gone up within the military too. They are falling at the highest level since the DOD began tracking them...over a decade ago.


Disturbed Ready to Fight the Demon of Depression and Addiction

“Regarding this demon that so many of our love ones and so many people close to us are struggling with of addiction and depression, and not being ashamed to talk about it and not being ashamed to come forward,” says Draiman in the preview of their appearance above. “You shouldn’t feel that you have to deal with that battle on your own.”

The song echoes that statement, prompted by the death of friends and family members who lost their battle, powerfully delivered with importance and impact from the GRAMMY-nominated band. “People need to be advocates,” Draiman continues. “People need to get involved. If they see the warning signs, if they see somebody falling prey to depression, to addiction, intervene. Don’t wait. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”

Suicide Awareness is the biggest factor in all of this. Making them aware of so many others who lost their battle, instead of giving them the weapons to battle for their lives, is worse than nothing.

Letting them know that it is OK to talk about not being OK, is helpful. Talking about how the lives of the speakers on this show changed from hopelessness to inspirational, is helpful.

After 37 years in this, we know what failed, but we also know what worked!

You heard the rumor, now know the truth on veterans committing suicide

A lie let them choose to die

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 6, 2019

This is the spawn of a lie that has spread throughout the country. 22 Veterans Commit Suicide Every Day - Team Kodiak Challenge

Coast Guard Base Kodiak units gathered together to participate in the Save 22: Veteran Suicide Awareness and Prevention Push Up Challenge, Aug. 29, 2019, in Kodiak, Alaska.

The challenge serves as a reminder that every day, 22 veterans commit suicide, and by participating in this challenge, Base Kodiak hopes to spread the message, create awareness and provide resources to those who are dealing with or are affected by suicide-related issues.

Does anyone really think that pushing your face into the ground will make a veteran think "gee they are doing pushups, so I should stay alive today" instead of thinking about all the other "22" who did it that day?

Watch the video and know this BS is part of the problem. They already know they are killing themselves and they know how to do it. What they do not know is how to heal and spread that message out the way these stunts spread death.

Spread the message about what? "What's the problem? It's just a number!" That is what people use to respond when confronted with the truth. The problem is, that "number" is supposed to represent the number of veterans who end up taking their own lives because their "problem" is not even worth knowing what the actual truth is.

A reminder of a lie? It is not now, nor ever has been 22 a day. It had been 22 the VA was aware of at the time, but even they warned the "number" should not be considered a fact. The VA only had limited data from just 21 states. Aside from the states that were not included, they did not have data from anyone who did not have an honorable discharge. Why? Because they are not counted as "veteran" even if they were part of the over 3 million kicked out of the service because of what their service did to them.

So, the Coast Guard is doing pushups and repeating the "number" one reason more veterans at taking their own lives than before.

And yet, with all the "awareness" that suicides are happening, they seem to have learned nothing from them. The suicide of Petty Officer 1st Class Jose Christopher Trujillo-Daza is a reflection of what all the stunts produced.

Yet in spite of the mandated suicide prevention training and the promotion of CG SUPRT, Wright-Williams acknowledges there may be some people, like Trujillo-Daza, who may not be reached by—or reach out to—those services.

The last drill weekend she saw Petty Officer 1st Class Jose Christopher Trujillo-Daza alive, Petty Officer 2nd Class Natalie Crane ate lunch with her coxswain and section leader.

“He was sitting on the boat, and we were eating, and he said, ‘This right here, being on a boat with buddies? This makes it all worth it,’” Crane remembered.

A week later, Trujillo-Daza was dead, a victim of suicide. Crane and her fellow reservists at Port Security Unit 313 in Everett, Wash., were stunned. What had happened in the intervening days? What else could they have done to prevent it?

In the past five years, 10 Coast Guard reservists have died by suicide, an average of two a year. That percentage is lower than that of other military branches and on par with the civilian suicide rate. It’s also small enough that statisticians and health professionals have difficulty pinpointing patterns that would provide Trujillo-Daza’s shipmates reliable answers or contexts.

All the things civilians are capable of, these men and women, like the members of the military, also commit murder-suicide with their own families. 

The difference is these men and women dedicated their lives to doing whatever they could to save lives...not take them.

Oh, sorry I failed to mention that the members of the Coast Guard are not counted within the military numbers, or veteran numbers.

Then again, people can spin anything. That was made clear by the recent report of US military members having less "mental disorders" than the general public.

Diagnoses for mental health conditions among active-duty U.S. military personnel have remained steady over the last four years, with 8.3% of the total force diagnosed in 2018, compared with 8% in 2014, according to a new study from the Defense Department.

The study looked at the number of diagnoses for eight mental health conditions, including adjustment disorder, alcohol dependence, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis and substance abuse, and found that the most common mental health diagnoses in troops were adjustment disorder, anxiety and depression.

That does not mean there are actually less with things like PTSD. It means there are less getting diagnosed and treated than the general public. When you factor in that all branches of the military have reached the highest level of suicides, that study should be sounding alarms all over the country.

No one is tracking the number of veterans facing off with members of law enforcement, but in 2017 we found it happened at least once a week all over the country.


Police officers commit suicide while serving, also as retirees. So do firefighters, other first responders and even Marshals.

The air marshal union letter to the OSC notes that just over a year earlier, TSA Administrator David Pekoske received an email from union officials "dated June 9, 2018 entitled ‘Concerned FAMS,’ where he was warned that unless immediate action was taken more tragedies would occur," but failed to react. “Since that warning the agency has seen 4 suicides, a murder suicide, and its first on duty death,” the letter grimly notes. The letter is dated July 22, the same day last month that a Washington D.C.-based supervisory air marshal named William Sondervan, 46, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It happens because veterans like Everett Glenn Miller , did not receive the help they needed in the military during his over 20 year career, or afterwards.

"This was truly the perfect storm," Mills told jurors. "He was homeless, he didn't have a job, he was heartbroken. ... He was admonished for being a walk-in at the VA three days before this crime was committed."

Joe Biden is being questioned for being partly right, but the fact that more commit suicide than die in battle has been going on for decades, as far as the reports go back to, but again, no one knows the whole truth on any of this. Why? Because it is easier to just talk about something happening than it is to actually do something about it.

Biden’s claim that more Iraq/Afghanistan veterans have committed suicide than were killed in action
The Washington Post
By Glenn Kessler
September 5, 2019

“More suicides per month in the U.S. military, returning vets, than people killed in action, by a long shot.”
— Former vice president Joe Biden, at a town hall event at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., Aug. 23, 2019

The Washington Post recently detailed how the former vice president told a moving but false story about an incident in Afghanistan. While watching a clip of the lengthy monologue that led to this tale, we were struck by his claim that there are more suicides per month of returning veterans than those killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan — “by a long shot.”

This seemed an interesting subject for a fact check, though it turned out the data is sketchy and not especially clear. There’s also an added wrinkle — what did Biden, who is not especially precise in his phrasing, mean with his comment?

The Facts
When we first watched this clip, we assumed that Biden was comparing the number of military personnel killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan over the course of the two wars — about nearly 5,400 — with the number of veterans of those conflicts who have taken their own lives.

Before he made this statement, Biden said: “Every year for the last 13 years I have wanted to know I call every morning to the Defense Department, not a joke, to learn exactly how many women and men have been killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. Every single one of them is a fallen angel left behind an entire community. … It’s 6,883, as of this morning.” (There are different ways to crunch the numbers, but it’s about 7,000.)

Biden continued: “Know how many are coming back with post-traumatic stress? 300,000. 300,000 estimated.” (He appears to be referring to a 2008 Rand Corp. study that said 20 percent of military service members, or 300,000 at the time, report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder — PTSD — or major depression.)
read it here

“If we do not focus on [suicide prevention]…we will be doing a disservice to those Veterans we care for, and a disservice to the memories of those millions who have come before.The most definitive answer that we can give to our fellow Americans and to our Veterans, is that this is a task that we will all conquer together."VA Secretary Robert Wilkie

Chairman Takano Congress is doing too much of the wrong things on suicide prevention

Congress is not doing enough to prevent suicides tied to military

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 2, 2019

Chairman Takano,
Your video is far from what is necessary to prevent suicides among citizens who served in the military and are currently serving. The rates prove that. They have gone up since the "suicide awareness" efforts began over a decade ago.

How much time do you think Congress should get before before the families show up in Washington or at your offices in your districts?

Suicide Prevention actually means they are being prevented...not simply passing bills that pretend to be any different from the ones that have already been written and funded by all other sessions of Congress before your Chairmanship.

What is not clear is why there has been so little effort in finding out what all of you have gotten wrong before it is all repeated.

What is not clear is why no one has been held accountable for any of it. Not the military when their suicide rates are at an all time high. Not the VA when more veterans are doing their own suicide awareness by committing suicide on VA property. No one, including members of Congress have ever apologized to the families left behind by for this complete total catastrophe.

There are people at the VA who do know what works and why it works, but Congress will not listen to them. There are people in the military who do know what works and why it works, but again, no one listens to them.

Why? Because what works does not cost as much as the drugs being given. It does not cost as much as paying for private mental healthcare providers who do not even begin to understand military culture. Oh, not that their track record was any better in the civilian community they used to serve, since according to the CDC civilian suicides have gone up every year too.

Stop doing too much of the wrong things and calling it suicide prevention, since results prove you wrong. Given the fact that we have had enough evidence of the rise, we also know about the calls to the Suicide Prevention Hotline going up, more calls to 911 and veterans facing off with police officers. It is futile to continue with all that is being redone now, to have results like these.

So please, stop what you are doing long enough to actually listen to different voices. Listen to those who have been out there doing the work that does actually prevent suicides, prevents families from falling apart, prevents veterans from becoming homeless and above all, from losing hope.

Veterans already know how to die. They need to be made aware of reasons to live!

CHAIRMAN TAKANO: VA SHOULD MARK NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION AWARENESS MONTH WITH A NATION-WIDE STAND-DOWN WASHINGTON, DC –

Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) released the following Video Statement to mark the beginning of National Suicide Prevention Awareness month and reiterate his Call For A VA Wide Stand-Down to address the crisis of veteran suicide.
VA stand down
Full text of the Video Statement below:

I am Congressman Mark Takano, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Today marks the beginning of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month-- and with 20 veterans, servicemembers, reservists, and members of the National Guard dying by suicide a day, it’s clear we have a national public health crisis on our hands.

In April, following 3 suicides on VA property in 5 days, I directed this Committee to work in a bipartisan manner to address the national crisis of veteran suicide and made it this Committee’s top priority.

We acted immediately and since then have held hearings, and passed 5 bills to address this crisis.

And yet, with each suicide, it becomes more clear our country is not doing enough. We need new solutions. That’s why I’ve called on VA to institute an immediate nation-wide stand-down to address this crisis.

Over the next 15 days, I’m asking VA to:

(1) Ensure all VA staff are fully trained
(2) Assess facility infrastructure
And
(3) Identify gaps in policies, procedures, and resources
We cannot keep delaying action. Americans must know that key policies are already in place, that VA will enforce them, and trust that senior VA leadership will be held accountable.

Until VA has a top suicide prevention official in place to implement these programs, veterans can’t have confidence in VA’s ability to care for them in a crisis. While Americans should take this month to have real conversations about suicide across this country, I’m asking VA to do more than talk. I’m asking them to back up their policies with clear, concise actions.

If you or a veteran you know is in crisis, you can call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1(800) 273-8255 and press 1, or text 838-255.

We must do more to “be there” for our veterans in crisis.
###
Press Contact
Jenni Geurink (202-225-9756)

Miguel R. Salazar

POTUS drained swamp of intelligent life

Veterans are paying attention 

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 24, 2019

The President drained the swamp, like he said he would. He did not warn us he meant he would drain it of intelligent life!

Most of us are turning off the TV whenever President Trump makes another stump speech, or attempts to hit and run the country with Tweets. The problem with that is, if we are not paying attention, we're going to wake up one day and discover that there are no longer any more veterans in the country. They will be called something else to avoid any connection to the sickening way they have been treated since the Revolutionary War.

If you do not know the history of betraying they have endured, begin with the mutiny in Pennsylvania.

So far, we have heard that President Trump thought it was a good idea to take away "unemployable" from older veterans. He had been advised that since they are too old to work, they should not depend on what "permanent and total" compensation they budgeted their lives with. 

This message sent veterans into panic mode. It meant thousands a month from their disability awards, loss of covered medical care for them and their families, loss of property tax benefits...and the list goes on.

Never an apology for what veterans were needlessly subjected to, he just moved on. Now we read from the White House that everything is wonderful for veterans in his eyes.

QUOTE

"My administration is committed to taking care of every warrior that returns home as a veteran." 

Does that mean the veterans already here will not be taken care of? It may seem like a silly question, but given what we have already seen, it is a fair question.

At least that is what the headline is from the White House. Like every other administration, it all depends on what they know and who they have advising them.

WASHINGTON — They were called the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd” by people inside the government. A damning exposé dubbed them the “shadow rulers of the VA.”

In the early days of the Trump administration, a trio of businessmen — one of whom was a member of the president’s private Mar-a-Lago club — worked behind the scenes to shape policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the $200-billion federal agency that provides healthcare to nearly 9 million vets. As ProPublica and other news organizations documented, Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter, a doctor in West Palm Beach named Bruce Moskowitz, and a D.C. lawyer named Marc Sherman formed a triumvirate of outside advisers, vetting VA personnel decisions, corresponding with the agency’s leader, and proposing their own ideas for reforming the VA. Rolling Stone

Add to that the latest on "suicide prevention efforts" that have been slammed by experts, but praised by FOX along with using the ear worm of "22 a day" committing suicide, instead of actually reporting facts on that one too!

But even the VA isn’t sure about the drug, named Spravato. Its medical advisory panel voted in June to classify the drug, known in its generic form as esketamine, as “non-formulary,” meaning it was not included on a list of VA-approved medications that are covered by the agency’s pharmacy benefits. The Center for Public Integrity was the first to report on the June vote. McClatchy

There is a list of things claimed, but apparently, the White House must not be aware of closely we do pay attention to what is going on. No President can possibly know everything that goes into making a country work right. He/she, has to depend on experts in their fields to intelligently advise, instead of just agreeing. If you have not been a long time reader, there is not one single President or party that has not been subjected to accountability. I have done it on various sites since I got online in 1993.

Last year it was reported that many disabled veterans had to pay income taxes for their student loans to be forgiven.

Disabled no longer face big tax hit when student loans are forgiven The bad news is that the change, part of a massive overhaul of the tax code spelled out by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is not retroactive.

Borrowers whose student loans are forgiven on or after Jan. 1, 2018, due to “total and permanent disability” no longer have to pay federal income taxes on those forgiven loans."

We know we cannot trust politicians. They do one thing after saying they were going to do something the opposite way. We cannot trust reporters to make sure what they say has been verified or not. We sure as hell cannot trust them to actually look into the archives to discover what the historical record has to reveal. We have to do those jobs for them! After all, considering that this is our lives on the line, it is all too personal to us.

PROVIDING THE SUPPORT OUR HEROES DESERVE: President Trump will continue to ensure our veterans receive quality healthcare and have access to the resources they need to succeed.

This Administration is working tirelessly to ensure that veterans receive the highest quality of care and support possible.

The President signed the VA MISSION Act, providing more healthcare options for veterans by consolidating existing programs and expanding access to care in veterans’ own communities.

President Trump is also committed to ending the tragedy of veterans’ suicide, securing $8.6 billion in funding for VA mental health services.

President Trump’s PREVENTS Initiative executive order established a task force to help better understand and prevent suicide.

Since the President’s election, veteran unemployment was reduced to the lowest level ever recorded.

Seriously? With the results we have been living with? Instead of waiting in line at the VA for an appointment, they have to wait in line for private doctors to be taking new patients. Then they have to wait for a referral once they finally find one. Top that off with a lot of doctors do not want to accept VA payments since they take too long to pay.

Spending up for privatizing efforts.(I blame both on this one including all the members of congress who were no longer ashamed of how they failed our veterans.)

Trump said he passed a private-sector health care program, Veterans Choice, after failed attempts by past presidents for the last “45 years.” That’s not true. The Choice program, which allows veterans to see doctors outside the government-run VA system at taxpayer expense, was first passed in 2014 under President Barack Obama.

The part that gets me is, as much as members of Congress belonging to the Republican Party complain about how lousy civilian healthcare is, they think it is a good thing to subject veterans to it! Thank them for this one even though Obama signed it. He should have known better because before he took over the oval chair, he was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.



The Veteran Unemployment Rate Dropped To Lowest Level In 20 Years In 2017

A fascinating report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has more on this.


Military suicides reached an all-time high in 2018, Pentagon says

Increase in homeless veterans. You can find this by a simple Google search in your state.

More veterans committing suicide in public, and at VA facilities. They are also facing off with police officers more often.

If there is any wonder as to why 68% of Americans disapprove of the "job" he is doing, ask a disabled veteran who has had to suffer after doing their jobs because politicians don't do theirs.


UPDATE Add this to all of that.

Internal VA emails critical of unofficial Trump 'advisors'
CNN
By: Zachary Cohen
Posted: Aug 25, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Career officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs expressed deep frustrations over having to entertain "ridiculous" policy recommendations from a trio of influential Mar-a-Lago club members during President Donald Trump's time in office, according to documents released by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.

A series of internal emails spanning from November 2017 to June 2018, show that VA officials wrote to senior staffers with concerns about how this group of three, known within the department as "the Mar-a-Lago crowd," was given the authority to influence policy despite having no government experience or expertise in veterans issues.
read it here

Mayor Bill de Blasio's broke silence on suicide in his own family

Mayor Draws on Father’s Suicide in Dealing With Spike Among NYPD Officers

The Wall Street Journal
By Katie Honan and Tyler Blint-Welsh
Aug. 15, 2019

Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to stem the spike in suicides among New York Police Department officers this year by speaking openly about his father’s suicide in urging them to seek help.

The mayor talked about his family’s experience in a letter he sent to NYPD officers on Wednesday night, shortly before a longtime officer became the ninth member of the department to die by suicide this year. The 56-year-old officer, who had been with the department for 25 years and served in its Strategic Response Group, fatally shot himself at a home in Laurelton, Queens, according to a police official. His suicide came a day after another officer fatally shot himself in Yonkers.

In his letter, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, detailed the depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism that his father, a decorated World War II veteran, battled before killing himself. His father, who lost part of his leg during the war, died when Mr. de Blasio was 18 years old. Although his father was always strong physically, the mayor said, it “wasn’t the kind of strength he needed.”

“My dad couldn’t deal with what he had lived through,” he said in the letter.

“I say from experience: There is strength in asking for help—in doing the right thing for you and your family.”
read it here

#BreakTheSilence

and

#TakeBackYourLife

‘Call for Backup’ before suicide creeps into their thoughts

Police, first responders urged to ‘Call for Backup’ before suicide creeps into their thoughts

News Herald
By Jackie Harrison-Martin
Aug 12, 2019

According to the program, people who choose suicide often keep up a “normal” appearance because they’ve hidden a lot of things away inside their own “hurt locker,” a personal “locker” where stress is stored and hidden.”

Far too many times, three words have been exceptionally difficult for police officers, firefighters and other first responders to say — “I need help.”

It has come at a high cost, and that is that is changing.

David Edwards is the founder and president of Call for Backup, a program focusing on the mental health for emergency and rescue personnel with the end goal being to reduce incidents of suicides.

He coordinates a two-day training class that gives first responders the tools needed to help recognize when they or one of their own is overwhelmed, detect when stress is building and make reaching out for help an easier stop.

It was Edwards, a Taylor resident, who came up with the name for the program that was launched three years ago and is now being taught in numerous states.

He said the name is one first responders can relate to because they recognize what it means out in the field.

When officers need help mentally, he hopes it will be viewed with the same understanding and ease that calling for backup brings on the job.
read it here

More first responders saving others....but not themselves

For second day in row, NYPD mourning officer who died by suicide

NBC New York, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the officer who died Wednesday was 56 years and found in his Queens home after police were called around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.

On Tuesday, another police officer died by suicide in Yonkers.

Since the beginning of June, seven NYPD officers have died by suicide, and nine since the beginning of the year.
read it here

FDNY captain found dead of apparent suicide in his Staten Island home: sources

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
By ROCCO PARASCANDOLA and JOHN ANNESE
AUG 06, 2019

An FDNY captain was found dead of an apparent suicide in his Staten Island home Tuesday morning, police sources said. The 53-year-old captain was found hanging in a closet of his Tottenville home at about 11:15 a.m., sources said. 

His name has not yet been publicly released. An autopsy is pending, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office said.

FDNY spokesman Myles Miller provided no details about the captain’s death Tuesday, though he said the department shared suicide prevention tips to its members after the suicides of seven NYPD officers this year — four of them over a three-week stretch.
read it here

NYPD suicides push officials to work to overcome stigma of asking for help

BY CNN WIRE
AUGUST 11, 2019

The study found that first responders failed to seek help because of the stigma of seeking mental health treatment in a profession that prioritizes bravery and toughness. It also found of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, “approximately 3-5% have suicide prevention training programs.”

The first sign something was wrong: The police sergeant didn’t show up for morning roll call.

New York Police Department officials went to his home, where they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was July 27, and the 30-year-old with eight years on the force was the NYPD’s seventh suicide this year, according to officials.

It’s news that rattled Police Commissioner James O’Neill, who says his biggest fear is another one of his officers is about to take his or her own life.

“Am I scared? I’ve got to be honest with you. Yeah, I am,” O’Neill told CNN during a recent interview at his office at One Police Plaza in Manhattan. “Maybe there’s somebody out there right now that’s in crisis or approaching crisis and just unable or unwilling to come forward.”

Over a two-month period, O’Neill has had often-painful conversations about a member of the department who killed himself. The number of NYPD suicides so far this year stands at seven — with five of those occurring since June.
read it here

FOX43 Focal Point: Heroes in Harm’s Way — First responders and mental health

BY GRACE GRIFFATON
AUGUST 11, 2019

"What they are seeing on a regular basis is not normal. We're responding to situations that would absolutely terrify another member of the public or completely devastate them if they've seen some of the carnage we've seen." Chief Jarrad Berkihiser

LANCASTER, Pa. -- For the third straight year, police officer suicides exceeded line of duty deaths in the United States. Local first responders are now sharing their battles with mental health issues. FOX43's Grace Griffaton takes a closer look at the toll the uniform can take. Lancaster Bureau Of Police lost a patrol officer last year after he took his own life. The loss hit the department hard, and it really changed how it looks at mental health. The flashing lights, the sirens, the tape, it's what civilians see. What first responders see, smell, and hear may never go away.

"Just watching what they do at an autopsy to four children - one being the same age as my daughter. It was kind of a gut bunch," said Chief Jarrad Berkihiser, Lancaster Bureau of Police. Flash back to August 22, 2003: Officers, including Berkihiser, respond to an arson on East Chestnut Street in Lancaster. Four children perished that day. "It was a homicide so I ended up spending 3 full days in the crime scene," explained Berkihiser. It wasn't Berkihiser's first time seeing trauma either; he spent his first 10 years processing violent crime scenes. "I was in a dark place in 2003, and it wasn't just one incident. What I found out? It was a culmination of multiple incidents over several years," he added.
read it here

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Suicide Awareness: Lost on a road to No Place Good

How do we know suicide awareness does not work?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 21, 2019

"It is time for us "others" to step up and begin to communicate a much different message to veterans."

We know suicide awareness does not work because of the results. Much like the report out of Alabama with higher veteran suicide numbers "awareness" raising began. They did not need to become aware they were killing themselves. They needed to be made aware of how to stay alive.

Specialist Ricardo Acosta was one of them. He went to the VA for help but did not receive all the help he needed.

Ricardo was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. He attended therapy sessions through the Veterans Affairs Administration and was prescribed medication.

“What most definitely did not help was their answer to soldiers returning with PTSD is to throw them on a myriad of drugs. And that is a downward spiral," his mother stated.

Sixteen days before his 29 birthday, Ricardo took his own life.

“The demons fought too hard and he fought so hard for many years and he lost," Lynn said. It left Ricardo’s family, including his mother and three younger sisters torn. 

“We’ll never be the same. There’s a missing piece.”

Military.com posted an article on military suicides that uses the data from 2017. Not sure why, other than the report for 2018 should have been released long before this. Still no clue where that report is.

The headline of the article is New Military Suicide Report May Revive Debate Over Gun Restrictions
but it was not the new report researchers have been looking for.

It has been reported that the number of suicides within the military have gone up for all branches. Active duty suicides for soldiers went up 20% for 2018.

The report from 2017 shows that suicide awareness has not worked, and there is every indication from what we know about 2018, the results are backwards. Reminder, these results are more current than from the VA.

Occurrence of Non-Fatal Suicide Attempts

Over the course of CY 2017, 1,397 non-fatal suicide attempts were identified. The associated DoDSER forms provided data on suicide attempts for 1,342 unique individuals since more than one attempt per individual could have occurred.

The reports from the VA on suicides have been years behind the deaths, limited data submitted by some states and leave out too many facts. Among them, are the number of veterans without honorable discharges, because none of them are counted. States like California and Illinois were not in the reports because they passed legislation in 2017 to include military service on death certificates. 

National Guard and Reservists are not counted unless they were deployed into combat. Responding to natural disasters and humanitarian missions do not "qualify" them as veteran.

Vermont is another state with a high veteran suicide rate. Josh Pallotta was in the National Guard and was deployed.

Soon, his mother said, Josh lost motivation and purpose in life. In September 2014, he ended his life. He was 25.

Valerie had not spoken with her son during the nine months before he took his own life. She took a tough love approach, hoping Josh would buck up. But that backfired on her, and she has had to live with a terrible sense of guilt, she said.

What’s worse, she said, time doesn’t heal.

His Mom, Valerie, is left with all that because no one told her how to help her son heal. How is it that keeps getting missed in all of this reporting on veterans killing themselves?

We had the same issues when all other generations came home. What we also had was a strong desire to change the conversation from whispering about suicides into screaming about healing.

Point Man International Ministries started in 1984 when a Seattle Police Officer was tired of arresting other veterans. His mission was to show them the way to taking back control of their lives from PTSD and being defined as saved survivors.

The approach was simple, basic and powerful. To heal veterans, Bill knew it required healing the spirit, soul and body instead of being left out by mental health providers.

Lives were changed! Now I read all these reports and it rips me up inside knowing how many lives have been saved, families empowered to fight this battle and change the outcome. 

We will never save their lives by talking about them choosing to die after they risked their lives for the sake of others.

The Department of Veterans Affairs campaign "Be There" will do little good unless those who are supposed to be there know how to help. Given the results it is clear far too many are doing whatever they want to do, and end up doing more harm than good.

I feel like a little kid on a long family trip..."are we there yet" pops into my brain as I wonder why so many of us are "there" while far too many are still finding themselves lost on a road to No Place Good.

NYPD and Chicago lost two more officers to suicide

Hero cop sixth NYPD officer to take life in 2019

The Riverdale Press
By JOSEPH KONIG 
Posted July 7, 2019

Five months later, however, Preiss was dead, reportedly taking his own life outside his Nassau County home June 26. He was the fourth New York Police Department officer to commit suicide in June, the sixth this year.

He was 53.

It was early in the morning on Jan. 27 when Liam Amir Rodriguez decided it was time to be born.

Officer Kevin Preiss, right, smiles with officer Roland Benson and the baby they helped deliver in January. Preiss reportedly died by suicide last month.

Liam’s parents, Naida and Jerry, began to make their way to the emergency room, except there was one problem: The elevator in their North Riverdale building was out of service. The contractions were starting, and on top of that, Naida needed to use the bathroom, so she returned to the apartment.

“Developments being what they were, my daughter could not leave the apartment,” Liam’s grandmother, Rebecca Maitin later explained in a letter. Maitin called 911, and within moments, two 50th Precinct officers were at the door.

Officers Kevin Preiss and Roland Benson helped deliver a perfectly healthy baby boy at 2:20 a.m., in a narrow hallway. Two weeks later, Preiss and Benson returned with a gift bag of baby clothes.

“There is good and kindness within New York’s finest and New York’s first responders,” Maitin wrote. read it here

Officials: Sheriff’s officer shoots himself to death on Northwest Side

Chicago Tribune
Rosemary Sobol
JUL 06, 2019

At least seven Chicago police officers have committed suicide in the last year. And the New York Police Department just experienced four suicides in three weeks, spurring the department to seek “psychological autopsies” to analyze the officers’ actions.

A Cook County corrections officer has taken his own life in a forest preserve in the Forest Glen neighborhood. Graham Hyland, 40, died of a gunshot wound to the mouth, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Saturday determined Hyland’s death was a suicide. 

Hyland was found at approximately 9:45 p.m. Friday in the 5900 block of North Central Avenue, at the Ted Lechowicz Woods. Hyland was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
read it here

If you decided to risk your life for a living...saving others, isn't it time you included saving your own life? #BrakeTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife