When speaking with the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough recently listed eliminating veteran homelessness and preventing suicide as fourth on his list of priorities.
This isn’t good enough. The VA needs to commit to ending, not just reducing, veteran suicide. This should be the department’s top priority.
It is my job to speak for veterans. As the executive director of a nonpartisan movement that is unifying the voices of America’s veterans, I have heard far too many stories from veterans who couldn’t get the help they’ve needed and from family members of those who didn’t get help in time. More veterans have died by suicide since 2005 than the total number of U.S. troops who died in 30 years of war in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Every veteran suicide is preventable. But it’s going to take the VA’s complete commitment to this issue. The mental health situation in America is dire, and it’s getting worse.
Certainly, there are other problems facing our veterans. Homelessness, unemployment, addiction, lack of caregiver assistance, and the challenges facing female veterans, veterans of color, and LGBTQ veterans all need to be addressed. But helping veterans find jobs, homes, or financial assistance are short-term solutions to a bigger problem: that the men and women who fought for us now feel so alone, hopeless, and overwhelmed that they are taking their own lives.
I know that COVID-19 came at a terrible time for the VA — just as it was embarking on massive changes in response to new authorities granted by Congress. The VA had laudable plans: Namely, to be more flexible in ensuring veterans get the help they need without delay.
But as the pandemic raged across the United States, things fell apart. Many veterans were unable to get appointments at the VA, and instead of allowing veterans to use local healthcare providers in their communities, as Congress intended, the VA kept them languishing in the abyss of phone transfers, hang-ups, and hopelessness. Their mental health challenges were further compounded by the mandatory isolation driven by quarantine and confinement “bubbles” that became the norm.
In the three months since the nomination hearing, we and many other Veterans Service Organizations have waited patiently for McDonough to take action on veteran suicide. It hasn’t happened.
In one of our recent polls of the veteran community, our members identified veteran suicide, by far, as the issue they are most concerned with, with nearly half of respondents selecting it first (31% said spouse and caregiver support was their biggest concern, and 22% said veteran employment). When asked, “What is the single most important thing communities can do to honor & support veterans,” the most selected response was “advocate for the need to eliminate the stigma around mental health treatment.”
How can we achieve this? For one, the VA can partner with nongovernment organizations working to prevent veteran suicide (95.6% of our community support these partnerships). And veterans also say they need more education and assistance on navigating their healthcare options.
The VA has the means and authority to act. Veterans must be supported and empowered with a holistic approach that connects all aspects of their lives within their local communities. And we in the VSO community stand by to partner with the VA in any manner necessary. We have worked closely with the VA in the past, and we know McDonough and VA employees continue to do incredible work in the service of our nation’s veterans.
Every day that passes without making veteran suicide the VA’s top priority is another day that veterans end their own lives at a startling rate. This is unacceptable. And we fully believe that every veteran suicide is preventable.
Garrett Cathcart is executive director of Mission Roll Call, a nonpartisan movement providing veterans with a powerful, unified voice that is heard by our nation’s leaders and communities.
