(Time)
Veterans Affairs officials failed to spend millions of dollars earmarked for veterans suicide prevention efforts in fiscal year 2018, leading to a measurable decline in outreach activity, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
“Leadership turnover and reorganization since 2017” led to a “decrease in suicide prevention media activities” over the past two years, the report found. The agency employed no permanent national director for suicide prevention between July 2017 and April 2018, and agency employees told investigators that there were not always leadership officials available to make key decisions or run meetings related to suicide prevention outreach. These shortcomings forced staffers to shift “their focus away from the suicide prevention media outreach campaign” and toward other mental health efforts.
Suicide, a major public health issue for the U.S. as a whole, is a particularly pressing problem for veterans. An estimated 20 veterans die by suicide each day, and the VA named suicide prevention its “highest clinical priority” in 2018.
“VA should be doing everything in its power to inform the public about the resources available to veterans in crisis,” Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz, ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, told the Military Times. “Unfortunately, VA has failed to do that, despite claiming the elimination of veteran suicide as its highest clinical priority.”