Sen. Patty Murray is perfectly positioned to do something about this crisis.
Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, is chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. She has sent a letter to top health officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs calling for more mental health services and more mental health providers.
That is exactly what’s needed.
Murray’s letter came on the heels of a report that shows an average of 18 veterans a day take their own lives. Equally shocking is the fact that 40 percent of veterans say they cannot get an appointment with a mental health professional at a clinic within the two-week period mandated by Veterans Administration.
And on the provider side, 70 percent of health care staff said they don’t have adequate staff or space to meet the mental health care needs of veterans.
That’s an indictment of the mental health program offered through Veterans Affairs.
The valiant men and women in the armed forces deserve better. It’s important that federal officials meet Murray’s challenge for more staff and more access to services.
Murray made an excellent point when she said, “The sad truth is that veterans who call to get a VA appointment have at least made the decision to reach out to VA for help. That is the critical step in accessing care, and it is not acceptable to have veterans, who have stepped up and shown the courage to ask for help, be denied that care.”
In her letter to Dr. Robert A. Petzel, undersecretary for the Health Department at Veterans Affairs, Murray acknowledged improvements at VA since the adoption of the Veterans’ Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008. She noted that the agency has begun integrating mental health in primary care, and created groundbreaking new programs, such as the suicide hot line. Veterans Affairs also has created outreach programs, Murray noted, and anti-stigma efforts with a goal of encouraging veterans to ask for help when they feel the need.
“However, much more remains to be done,” Murray wrote.
She noted that in Spokane the average wait for a psychiatry appointment is almost 21 days and that barely half the veterans are able to get an appointment within Veterans Administration’s own policy of 14 days. Fewer than half of veteran appointments at the Walla Walla clinic are meeting VA standards.
“Almost three years after VA adopted the Uniform Mental Health Services Handbook, I continue to hear from veterans, their caregivers and health care providers that it has not been fully implemented,” Murray wrote.
More troubling, she said, is the fact that Veterans Administration lacks a plan to address the critical issues raised in the survey of 272 mental health providers.
Murray said there are many veterans who, because of their mental illness, are unwilling or unable to navigate the VA system to get the help they need. Many who have post-traumatic stress disorder may develop severe symptoms a year or more after they return home. “VA must find a way to reach out to those veterans, and not wait for them to contact VA,” Murray said.
The reality is that Veteran Administration centers scattered across the nation are seeing more patients. Part of that is due to military officials encouraging veterans to ask for help when needed.
That’s the right message and the right thing to do. Unfortunately, at that point the federal mental health system breaks down. Veterans are being forced to wait too long for appointments. In some cases, those delays can, and do, lead to suicide.
That’s unacceptable.
It’s clear that Veterans Administration officials need to live up to their obligation, hire additional staff members, reduce the wait and give our troops the mental health treatment they need and have earned with their valiant service.
