FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2007
VA's Suicide Hot Line Begins Operations
Nicholson: "Help a Phone Call Away"
WASHINGTON - To ensure veterans with emotional crises have round-the-clock
access to trained professionals, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has
begun operation of a national suicide prevention hot line for veterans.
"Veterans need to know these VA professionals are literally a phone call away,"
said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson said. "All service members who
experience the stresses of combat can have wounds on their minds as well as
their bodies. Veterans should see mental health services as another benefit they
have earned, which the men and women of VA are honored to provide."
The toll-free hot line number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). VA's hot line will be
staffed by mental health professionals in Canandaigua, N.Y. They will take
toll-free calls from across the country and work closely with local VA mental
health providers to help callers.
To operate the
national hot line, VA is partnering with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
"The hot line will put veterans in touch - any time of the day or night, any day
of the week, from anywhere in the country - with trained, caring professionals
who can help," added Nicholson. "This is another example of the VA's commitment
to provide world-class health care for our nation's veterans, especially combat
veterans newly returned from Iraq and Afghanistan."
The suicide hot line is among several enhancements to mental health care that
Nicholson has announced this year. In mid July, the Department's top mental
health professionals convened in the Washington, D.C., area to review the
services provided to veterans of the Global War on Terror.
VA is the largest provider of mental health care in the nation. This year, the
Department will spent about $3 billion for mental health. More than 9,000 mental
health professionals, backed up by primary care physicians and other health
professionals in every VA medical center and outpatient clinic, provide mental
health care to about 1 million veterans each year.
For the latest news releases and other information, visit
VA on the Internet at
http://www.va.gov/opa.
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