I came across this yesterday from Not The bee, broke my heart! You know what it takes for a man to brake down like this?
Say a prayer of relief for the veteran going through a profound crisis, and say a prayer of thanksgiving that this police officer was there to help him at the time he most needed it:
From Hartford Courant, Traffic stop on I-84 turns into a heartwarming moment between a Connecticut state trooper and an Army veteran
A routine traffic stop on Interstate 84 on Sept. 11 turned into a memorable moment between a trooper from the Connecticut State Police and a U.S. Army veteran.
Trooper Kyle Kaelberer pulled over onto the right shoulder near Exit 68 of I-84 to assist a motorist with their hazard lights on.
Kaelberer found a man in distress, who identified himself as an Army veteran. The man said he was on the phone with a counselor from a suicide prevention hotline for military veterans.
And from Breitbart News, State Trooper Embraces Suicidal Army Vet During Routine Traffic Stop
HEARTWARMING — While conducting a traffic stop on September 11, 2022, a Connecticut state trooper found an Army veteran in emotional distress and on the phone with the VA suicide hotline. The trooper reassured the veteran and gave him a hug when asked.
Veteran suicide numbers are higher than VA reported, more than double federal figures, study shows
The rate of suicides among America’s veterans could be more than double the figure reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a recently released study.
In a joint study between America’s Warrior Partnership, a nonprofit organization that works to end veteran suicide., the University of Alabama and Duke University, researchers reviewed death figures from 2014 to 2018 for eight s states – Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon – and determined that states had undercounted veteran suicides that were not included in figures released by federal officials.
The states were the only ones that provide reliable data, the AWP report said.
“If we are going to make progress toward preventing former service member suicide, we need better data,” said Jim Lorraine, President and CEO of AWP. “Inaccurate data leads to a misallocation of very valuable resources.”
According to the report, if the eight states represented the national suicide rate, it would account for 44 veteran suicides a day in that four-year period instead of 17.7, a figure released by the VA.
Veterans group says suicide rates among veterans is higher than what VA says
Its report, Operation Deep Dive , used state-provided death data and military records from eight states to evaluate the suicide rate and find trends to try to end veteran suicides altogether.
The group uncovered that the suicide rate among veterans from 2014 to 2018 was 37% higher than reported by the VA and that if the rate from the eight states they investigated was adjusted to represent a national rate, there were be an average of 24 veteran suicides daily, instead of the 2014-2018 average of 18 veteran suicides.
Former service members from the Air Force were the least likely to die from suicide, followed by the Navy , Army , Marines , and lastly, the Coast Guard .
Another one of the group’s findings was that not every current or former service member who died by suicide was identified as a member of the military. Eighteen percent of the time, a service member who takes his or her own life isn’t recognized at the time of death as having served in the military.
I don’t know what to do about it. I know how hard is to ask for help, been there done that.
24/7, confidential crisis support for Veterans and their loved ones
Are you a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one?
You’re not alone—the Veterans Crisis Line is here for you. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to call.
Veteran suicide prevention
Veteran Self-Help Resources
One way I think is for these money hungry war monger politicians and Generals to stop getting us into theses senseless political never ending wars.
Dan Bongino: This is the kind of event that can spark a world war
Fox News host Dan Bongino reacts to the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline amid the Russia-Ukraine war in the opening monologue of ‘Unfiltered.’
Military suicides undermine Army’s ability to solve readiness crisis
The U.S. Army is in the throes of a burgeoning readiness crisis with military service leaders anticipating a significant drop-off in their ability to recruit enough Americans to its ranks.
And at least part of the reason is the grinding suicide crisis in the military. Not only do recruits have to worry about their safety on a battlefield; they now must be concerned about ailments that trail them after their service to the nation.
“To compete for talent, the Army must provide a workplace environment free of harmful behaviors, to include sexual assault, sexual harassment, racism, extremism, and the risk factors which lead to death by suicide,” Gen. Joseph Martin, the Army’s vice chief of staff, told a House panel last month.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth echoed the frank admission. “We need to show that we are doing something about suicide prevention in the Army,” she said.
“Suicide has proven to be an incredibly difficult issue for the military to get its arms around,” said the publication Task & Purpose. “The Army specifically saw its highest rate of suicides in 2021 since 1938, coming in at 36.18 suicide deaths per 100,000 soldiers.”
By comparison, among all U.S. adults, the suicide rate per 100,000 is about 18 deaths. Among veterans, the suicide rate also well surpasses the civilian rate.
Video: Military veteran raises awareness for veteran suicide: PTSD is a ‘causal factor’
Fox Report Anchor Jon Scott, and military veteran Michael Murray II, Founder and President of Liberty–OVE, discussed the awareness of PTSD and veteran suicide on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’
Not just for vets, mental illness is a huge problem in America right now no doubt. And a lot of it is happening in blue states and cities. I’m sure you saw this one the other day.
FDNY lieutenant paramedic and 9/11 first responder stabbed to death in broad daylight while walking to get lunch
NEW YORK CITY, NY – People across the city are mourning the tragic loss of a New York Fire Department (FDNY) paramedic and 9/11 first responder who was fatally stabbed while working in the line of duty.
FDNY paramedic Lieutenant Alison Russo-Elling, who was 61-years-old, was on duty in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens when she was stabbed multiple times in a completely unprovoked and violent attack.
The fatal incident happened during the afternoon on Thursday, September 29th. Russo-Elling was on shift at EMS Station 49 in Astoria when she was stabbed multiple times in a “barbaric and completely unprovoked” attack near 20th Avenue and Steinway Street.
According to The Post, The 61-year-old “was about six or seven months away from retirement,” Vincent Variale, president of Local 3621, told reporters outside the hospital where Russo-Elling succumbed to her injuries. “She was talking about it.” According to Daily Mail,
A man, 34, with a history of schizophrenia was charged Thursday for the fatal stabbing of longtime EMT worker Allison Russo-Elling, 61
This is reportedly his first arrest. He had an interaction with the police in 2018, when he was accused of issuing threats to Asians.
The incident resulted in his hospitalization, but an arrest was never made.
‘The Five’ react to New York law enforcement attacks and Mental Illness
‘The Five’ co-hosts sound off on the latest attacks on New York City law enforcement.
Why Closing U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals Caused a Mental Health Crisis
The last thing you want is a shortage of mental health facilities as the number of patients diagnosed with mental health disorders increases. But, that is exactly what is currently happening.
As mental illness continues to have catastrophic effects on the lives of millions of people across the country, the closure of mental health hospitals only exacerbates and prolongs the problem. Understanding mental health is not only important for you at an individual level, but also for everyone in society as well.
Mental health disorders can be caused by genetics as well as environmental influences. Our fast-paced society puts us at greater risk for mental health complications because human beings today worry and stress more than previous generations.
Making matters even worse, there is a stigma attached to mental health. Having a mental health disorder is seen as something to be ashamed of, and people often avoid getting treatment simply to avoid the bad image.
Numbers Increase as Facilities Decrease
The closure of mental health hospitals over the last decade has increased steadily each year. The trend is driven by a desire to desensitize psychiatric patients that started back in the 1950s and 60s.
The thought was that a number of patients could actually do well in the community, and, as more were released, the facilities were dissolved. The fact that the government would then have more money to use elsewhere encouraged a bias to develop over time.
Now there are not enough beds to house the patients in real need of psychiatric hospital treatment.
What Happens to Patients When Mental Health Clinics Close?
“There aren’t empirical studies of this,” says Linda A. Teplin, Owen L. Coon Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
“They’re just too expensive to do, and not feasible. There are findings and government statistics that suggest what is happening,” but due to many complex variables, “nobody can do a direct study on the consequences of cuts for mental health.”
Nevertheless, a few experts were able to share some common scenarios they’ve observed when access to public mental health centers is thwarted:
The State Of Mental Health In America
2022 Key Findings
- In 2019, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 19.86% of adults experienced a mental illness, equivalent to nearly 50 million Americans.
- Suicidal ideation continues to increase among adults in the U.S. 4.58% of adults report having serious thoughts of suicide, an increase of 664,000 people from last year’s dataset. The national rate of suicidal ideation among adults has increased every year since 2011-2012. This was a larger increase than seen in last year’s report and is a concerning trend to see going into the COVID-19 pandemic.
- A growing percentage of youth in the U.S. live with major depression. 15.08% of youth experienced a major depressive episode in the past year, a 1.24% increase from last year’s dataset. In the bottom-ranked states, up to 19% of youth ages 12-17 experienced major depression.
- Over 2.5 million youth in the U.S. have severe depression, and multiracial youth are at greatest risk. 10.6% of youth in the U.S. have severe major depression (depression that severely affects functioning). The rate of severe depression was highest among youth who identified as more than one race, at 14.5% (more than one in every seven multiracial youth).
- Over half of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment, totaling over 27 million adults in the U.S. who are going untreated. In Hawaii, the bottom-ranked state, 67% of adults with a mental illness did not receive treatment. Even in Vermont, the top-ranked state in the U.S., 43% of adults experiencing a mental illness were not receiving treatment.
- The percentage of adults with a mental illness who report unmet need for treatment has increased every year since 2011. In 2019, 24.7% of adults with a mental illness report an unmet need for treatment.
- Over 60% of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment. Even in states with the greatest access, nearly one in three are going without treatment. In Texas, the bottom-ranked state for this indicator, nearly three-quarters of youth with depression did not receive mental health treatment.
- Both adults and youth in the U.S. continue to lack adequate insurance coverage. 11.1% of Americans with a mental illness are uninsured. There was a 0.3% increase from last year’s dataset, the second year in a row that this indicator increased since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 8.1% of children had private insurance that did not cover mental health services, totaling 950,000 youth.
This year’s report includes spotlights on two of MHA’s policy priorities in 2021-2022 – the implementation of 988 as the national three-digit suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline and increasing mental health education and supports in schools, particularly for BIPOC youth.
Tracking the History of State Psychiatric Hospital Closures
For the last 60 years state mental health agencies (SMHA) have been building comprehensive community-based systems to care for persons with serious mental illnesses.
SMHA have also refocused the use of state psychiatric hospitals on patients in major crisis, patients whose illnesses were not being adequately addressed in community settings, and increasingly forensic and other involuntary patients.
Since the 1950s, the number of beds in state psychiatric hospitals has declined by over 91 percent.
As a result of this phenomenon, many state psychiatric hospitals that had once served thousands of patients every day are now much smaller and many states that had multiple psychiatric hospitals have consolidated their acute inpatient services by merging facilities. Get publication
Thanks for stopping by, God bless you and God bless America. May He also have mercy on us.
Roberts Thoughts 2 