Suicide Prevention Month shows need to fix broken Veterans Crisis Line

This week I hosted my second annual Veterans Care Fairs in Des Moines and Treynor in order to provide Iowa veterans and their families with information and resources about benefits, programs and services available to them.

Of the dozens of organizations and agencies who provided information about services and assistance to veterans and their families at each Veterans Care Fair, representatives from different groups shared resources for veterans’ suicide prevention and assistance. As this month is Suicide Prevention Month, I especially appreciated their willingness to participate in my Veterans Care Fairs and raise awareness of important resources.

Unfortunately, veterans’ mental health care access and suicide prevention are issues regularly concerning the veterans groups and Iowans I meet with while I travel the Third Congressional District. I discussed this issue, as well as my efforts in Congress to address it, in detail with veterans, service members and their families at the two Veterans Care Fairs this week.

Earlier this year, I introduced the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act (H.R. 5392), legislation to provide for critical improvements to the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). As you may know, the VCL is the confidential, toll-free hotline for veterans seeking help and crisis resources from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) responders. Unfortunately, the Government Accountability Office, a government watchdog organization, recently released a report finding nearly 30 percent of text messages sent as a test to the VCL went unanswered.

My legislation improves this needed service for our veterans by holding the VA accountable and requiring they formulate a plan to ensure communications to the VCL or backup call centers are answered by a live person. The legislation also requires the VA to form and implement a quality assurance process to address responsiveness and performance of the VCL and backup call centers, document their improvements and report back to Congress on their progress.

I’m leading my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fix the VCL because we must uphold the promises we’ve made to those who have bravely defended our freedoms, by providing quality and accessible care they deserve.

This week I also sent a letter to VA Secretary Robert McDonald, highlighting continued problems with the VCL and seeking clarification about the staffing practices involved with the VCL. If additional problems lie within contracting practices to staff the VCL, we must bring them to light so we can address them without delay.

Ultimately, when a veteran is in crisis, he or she should be able to talk to someone without undue delays, whether by phone, text message or online communication. Addressing the continuing problems with the VCL is one necessary, commonsense and critical step toward ensuring our veterans and service members have the best possible resources when they return home.

David Young is the Congressman representing Iowa’s Third Congressional District. He is a member of the Committee on Appropriations and Subcommittees on Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.