“Suicide Prevention is VA’s Number One Priority” - Veteran Coelho and VA’s Stein LIVE
“Suicide Prevention is VA’s Number One Priority” - Veteran Coelho and VA’s Stein LIVE
“The number one clinical priority is to prevent suicide for all veterans, not only the veterans who come to the VA, but all veterans in the area, actually, and all veterans across the whole country,” said Stein. “70% of the veterans who die by suicide have not been connected to the VA within the last couple years, so we want to make sure that we go out into the community, we contact family members, friends, community members, and let them know about the VA — and that it is a major public health concern."
Stein spoke to suicide prevention services including phone numbers — and text message resources — available 24/7 HERE.
Coelho, a Vietnam veteran and member of the Portsmouth Veterans Honor Roll Committee, spoke to the importance of veterans connecting with other veterans, to check-in on their well-being.
“It’s important, if you can connect, make the call to an old buddy that you haven’t spoken with, or a friend you have connected with in years, just checking in, saying how’s things going with you, nice to hear to you to talk, maybe have lunch together," said Coelho.
"And who knows, all of a sudden you get something from one of them that says life isn’t going so great for me, you know you can say, well, let’s get together, and let’s talk about it, because we know what’s going on with each other — we know what we’ve been through, so we can talk about it," said Coelho.
Battle Buddies
On Saturday October 12, the Dare to Dream Ranch in Foster will host a “Battle Buddy Retreat,” to provided resources — and support — for veterans.
“Battle Buddies exchanging experiences, challenges, resources, and tactics to live life to the fullest — a day of Veteran to Veteran Wellness,” states the event.
For more information, go here.