A veteran committed suicide at a military cemetery on a Veterans Affairs campus in Florida, leaving many concerned that the department is failing to care for distressed veterans.
The suicide took place at Bay Pines National Cemetery in early October, weeks after the department announced new initiatives to bolster outreach and emergency responses to at-risk veterans.
Part of the “stand down” initiative was to train employees throughout the public VA campuses, including staff military cemeteries, to identify and assist distressed veterans. Although the policy had been in place for 20 days and the cemetery was only a 10-minute walk from the VA’s medical center, staff failed to intervene and stop the veteran.
That death was the 35th suicide on the department’s public space in two years and the sixth suicide on that campus in the past six years.
[Related: ‘It’s scary’: VA grapples with wall of silence over rising veteran suicides]
Officials claimed staff had implemented the new policies when the suicide took place and said the “proper monitoring and response procedures were followed.”
Although the overall number of veteran suicides is on the rise, the department stated that on-site suicides have declined as a result of policy changes.
“At this time, there is no identified trend demonstrating increasing suicide deaths among veterans in active inpatient care, seeking or recently treated for care, and veterans who die by suicide on VA grounds who are not seeking care,” said VA Press Secretary Christina Mandreucci.
Manderucci also noted that 90% of suicide interventions at VA facilities were successful.
An average of 17 veterans per day die of suicides with 6,000 dying per year for the last decade.
