VA Plans Suicide Prevention Hotline for Veterans

The Veteran's Administration (VA) has announced plans to establish a 24-hour, national suicide prevention hot line for veterans.

Scheduled to begin operations by August 31, 2007, the hotline will be staffed by mental health professionals and will operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

The hot line, which is scheduled to begin operations by August 31, 2007, will be based at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in New York state. Staffed by mental health professionals, the hotline will be available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

In addition to staffing the hot line, the suicide prevention coordinators will take part in training clinicians and non-clinicians on warning signs for suicide, guide veterans into care and work within facilities to identify veterans at risk for suicide.

Suicide prevention coordinators will also be added to the medical staffs at each of the VA's 153 medical centers nationwide.

"This is another significant step to ensure that veterans, particularly the newest generation of combat vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive accessible and compassionate care for their mental health concerns," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson in a VA press release.

A study conducted by Portland State University concluded that US war veterans are twice as likely to kill themselves as ordinary civilians. The suicide rates among men who had served in the military was found to be 2.13 percent higher than among men with no military service.

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