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EXPERTS TACKLE SUICIDE PREVENTION AMONG
COMBAT VETERANS -- Doctors and social
workers join VA's drive for awareness.
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http://www.jsonline.com/
story/index.aspx?id=572352
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Experts tackle suicide prevention among combat
veterans
Doctors, social workers here join VA's drive
for awareness
By BILL GLAUBER
bglauber@journalsentinel.com
They survived bombs and bullets on the battlefield. But for a small
number of America's war veterans, there is one more lethal obstacle to
face after returning home - suicide.
"About 50 times a day we hear from some practitioners that a veteran is
thinking about killing themselves," Richard Gibson, manager of the
mental health division at Milwaukee's Zablocki VA Medical Center, said
Thursday.
Gibson was among the featured local speakers at the hospital in the
first Suicide Prevention Awareness Day sponsored by the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
Once a taboo subject, suicide has come out into the open as thousands of
veterans return from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the
veterans of conflicts stretching back to World War II bear the mental
scars of war, including post-traumatic stress disorder. And, as Gibson
noted, some can have suicidal thoughts.
Overall in the U.S., nearly one out of four people who commit suicide
are veterans, Jim Benson, national VA spokesman, said during a
closed-circuit broadcast.
The VA is trying to come to grips with the problem, especially after
several highly publicized suicides involving returning veterans. In
March 2006, a Milwaukee police officer and Iraq war veteran used his
police gun to commit suicide in the basement of his home.
The officer's death prompted the local VA to establish a suicide
prevention committee headed by Michelle Cornette. A suicide coordinator
will soon be hired, and an electronic suicide reporting system is
expected to be implemented, Cornette said.
What should the general public know about the issue?
"That a veteran status is a risk factor for suicide," Cornette said.
"Minimize the alcohol or drugs. Watch out for social isolation, not
enjoying things as much as they used to and feeling ineffective. If
someone has a prior (suicide) attempt history, that's important, too."
Local VA officials said there is not enough information to determine if
the newest veterans face greater risks for suicide. But they're not
taking chances.
"We do feel we need to step up our work in this area and deal with it
right away," said Bertrand Berger, program manager of the acute mental
health unit at the Zablocki VA Medical Center.
Berger said VA officials are trying to spread the message to the wider
public, especially because most veterans receive medical treatment
outside the VA system. He said if friends or relatives notice a "combat
veteran is having difficulty," the vet should be referred to the VA.
Charles Wolden, a team leader for the Milwaukee Vet Center, a
community-based outreach center for combat vets, said people shouldn't
be afraid "to reach out, better safe than sorry."
"I know of at least two interventions (to prevent suicide) we've made
recently," Wolden said.
Jean Bromley, a social work consultant at the Zablocki VA, stressed the
importance of "creating a community" when a veteran from the Iraq or
Afghanistan war "walks in the door" of a VA hospital.
"We have seen more than 2,300 service members since this conflict
began," she said.
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Larry Scott --
