Differing view of progress toward implementing suicide prevention programs were heard on Capitol Hill yesterday in testimony before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Telling a story that has become all too familiar were parents Mike and Kim Bowman, whose 23-year old son Specialist Tim Bowman committed suicide in 2005 after returning from Iraq with the Illinois National Guard. “The VA mental health system is broken in function, and understaffed in operation,” Bowman said, calling the veteran suicide rate an epidemic.

The press has called attention to the risks of suicide for soldiers suffering from PTSD, but Dr. Kara Zivin noted suicide is highest for people with depression. Suicide is the 11th in leading cause of death in the general population, with of 11.05 per 100,000. For those serving in Iraq, it is nearly twice that, 19.9 for 100,000.

Veterans Affairs official Dr. Ira Katz noted that roughly 100,500 of the 750,000 men and women who have served in Iraq have come for help since the war began. Katz addressed efforts to publicize risk factors and services, noting that since a telephone hotline began in July, 6,000 calls led to 300 rescues. But when all is accounted for, these and other measures fall short of the department’s staffing goals, including hiring suicide prevention coordinators and completing a national registry of veterans. And the full array of suicide prevention measures outlined in Implementing VHA's Mental Health Strategic Plan Initiatives for Suicide Prevention in May, 2007, have not been implemented, noted Dr. Michael Shepherd from the VA’s Office of Inspector General.

Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn) explains the need for passing the the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act which became law in November.