Fewer veteran suicides reported

The number of suicides among veterans in the Spokane region dropped
dramatically last year, according to newly released records.

In response to a Spokesman-Review request for information, the
Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center reported nine suicides from July
2008 to July 2009, including three veterans who had contact with the
medical center.

Since that reporting period, there has been one other suicide of a
veteran who had not sought treatment at Spokane VA, bringing to six the
total number of suicides in calendar year 2009. In addition, there were
33 confirmed failed suicide attempts among Spokane-area veterans
last year.

That’s down markedly from the number reported by the Spokane VA from
July 2007 to July 2008 – 21 veterans in the Spokane VA service killed
themselves, including 14 who had contact with the medical center.

Sharon Helman, the former director of the Spokane VA, reported the
drop to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who had requested information
on veteran suicides and what was being done at Spokane VA to fill
critical mental health care positions.

“I hope you can assure me that you have addressed this situation and
have systems in place to avoid it in the future,” Murray wrote to Helman
in December. Helman was reassigned last month to a VA medical center
in Illinois.

The exchange between Helman and Murray came at a time of increased
military suicides nationally as the Iraq and Afghan conflicts create a
new generation of combat veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has reported that suicide rates
nationally among veterans 18 to 29 years old increased 26 percent from
2005 to 2007 and continued to climb to record levels in 2009.

A year ago, the VA’s Office of Medical Investigations completed a
report on a spike in veteran suicides in the Spokane VA service area
in 2008.

Inspectors found that the methods used by the medical center “to
identify veterans who have committed suicide may be inadequate.”

For example, for the July 2007 to July 2008 period, the Spokane VA
initially reported nine suicides. That number rose to 21 after the
Spokane VA made efforts to improve its reporting of veteran suicides by
coordinating with the Spokane County medical examiner’s office and local
mental health practitioners about veteran suicides and suicide
attempts, Helman told Murray last month.

In July the medical center’s psychiatric staff members wrote Helman a
letter in which they refused to accept new patients because of their
already “huge caseloads,” prompting Murray’s inquiry about efforts to
fill behavioral health vacancies.

Helman told Murray last month that Spokane VA had taken steps to fill
vacancies and “eliminate the number of veterans seeking appointments
who have to wait more than 30 days to be seen.”

A new chief of behavioral health and two outpatient psychiatrists
will join Spokane VA by mid-February, Helman said.

In the past six months, the medical center has hired a suicide
prevention case manager and part-time administrative assistant, as well
as a nurse specializing in depression management.

In addition, five psychiatrists from the Puget Sound VA Medical
Center are being trained to provide mental health treatment via video
conferencing to Spokane VA patients.

Helman told Murray that last year’s staffing shortages were due
largely to national competition for mental health professionals at a
time of unexpected staff departures at Spokane VA.