Washington, D.C. (NBC) – Twenty U.S. veterans take their lives every day. It’s a startling statistic shared on Capitol Hill Wednesday, as the man in charge of veterans’ care told lawmakers what he’s doing to prevent those suicides.
Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Dr. David Shulkin appeared before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, at a hearing looking at what more can be done to prevent veteran suicides.
Dr. Shulkin told lawmakers his department now has the largest integrated suicide prevention network in the country with more than 1,100 professionals dedicated to suicide prevention.
But he needs a thousand more mental health professionals, sharing how he’s increasing outreach efforts to veterans–knowing still that there is still much more work to do.
“What we’re trying to do is more aggressively than ever before to outreach to veterans that aren’t getting access to care,” Secretary SHulkin said. “But we can’t help those that we don’t see. So this is where we’re extending our help into the community to work with community partners. We’re doing more to reach veterans than ever before. As Secretary, I have authorized that we do start providing emergency mental health services to those that were other than honorably discharged.”
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