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SALT LAKE CITY — There hundreds of military veterans in Utah that the U.S. Department of Vetarans Affairs considers at high-risk for suicide. Counselors want to reach even more vets in crisis, so they updated their hotline.
Utahn Adrian Melendez has called the National Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline several times since separating from the Army after five years of service.
Among the stresses he is dealing with: One year in Iraq in 2003. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Finding and keeping work. Going to school. Medical bills. The third miscarriage for his wife, Olivia. People who asked him "How many people have you killed?" The everyday stresses of family life.
That list was bearing down when he made his most recent call to the hotline about one month ago. "I wasn't actually thinking of suicide at the time. There were other crises at the time. It was maybe the second or third time I had called that number."
But he became upset while on the phone. He hung up, left his apartment and went for a drive. He was surprised and anxious when he returned home and saw Salt Lake City police there, talking with his wife. "I assumed they were there for me — they're coming to get me."
He connected the dots, figuring the Veterans Affairs crisis worker he'd been on the phone with had made the call to police. The anxiety gave way to relief that someone wanted to help.
"You guys must really care about me to send the Salt Lake City police over," he thought. "Wow. I didn't even know that the Salt Lake City police would coordinate with the VA to do that. And I think that's great. That's great."
The volume of calls nationally is significant — 390,000 (and) 13,000 of those were actually imminent situations where veterans were rescued.
–Michael Koplin, Salt Lake City VA
#koplin_quote
Making the first call can be a formidable challenge. There are feelings of embarrassment or shame. "I had thought about calling many times but I was always kind of hesitant," Melendez said. "Sometimes I was or was not feeling kind of suicidal … once you take the first step, then it's a relief."
Under the premise that every suicide threat is a crisis but not every personal crisis includes a suicide threat, the VA recently renamed the national hotline the Veterans Crisis Line.
"The hope, of course, is then to get a greater number of family members and veterans willing to call in, willing to share their concerns and issues," said Michael Koplin, Suicide Prevention Coordinator at the VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City. "A lot of veterans have crises other than suicide risks."
The hotline (800-273-8255) is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All calls go to a national call center in New York. Veterans in crisis are instructed to "press 1" once the call connects. "It transfers immediately to a VA medical center health professional, whether for suicide risk or resource information," Koplin said.
Then the information is sent to the calling veteran's locale. "They give me a consultation by email or phone. Sometimes the next day or within an hour, I'm notified," he said. "That whole turnaround is within a 24-hour period."
Koplin's team is regularly keeping tabs on about 200 "critical" veterans at any given time. Calls have mostly been from veterans older than 40.
"The volume of calls nationally is significant — 390,000 (and) 13,000 of those were actually imminent situations where veterans were rescued," Koplin said.
Melendez and his wife saw an advertisement for the hotline promoting the name change last week. "I feel like I'm one of them," he said of the 13,000 rescued since the hotline was launched more than two years ago.
"It's not easy to be married to a veteran or a soldier," Olivia Melendez said, recalling that her long-estranged father, a veteran, had attempted suicide seven times and that her stepfather, also a veteran, also had hard times.
"All I can say is just be there — be by their side," she said while they talked at their kitchen table. Their 4-year-old son, Isaiah, between them. "He takes care of his family first before taking care of himself."
Adrian Melendez has since connected through Facebook with a buddy from basic training, given him the hotline number and goaded him to contact the VA. "He was suffering with a lot of the same symptoms I was. He was struggling in the same way," Melendez said. "To me this was like my brother. I had to do something to help him."
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Story written by Steve Fidel with contributions from Jed Boal.
