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Liz Davis • September 23, 2024
Working Together to Prevent Suicide
Thank you to everyone who attended our 2024 Quarter 3 Partnership meeting on 9/11/24! We had a wonderful turn out and greatly appreciate VA Suicide Prevention team coming to present to our group. By watching the recording of the meeting you will:
- Have a general understanding of the scope of Veteran suicide within the United States.
- Know how to identify a Veteran who may be at risk for suicide.
- Know what to do when you identify a Veteran at risk.
- Explain why communities are key in preventing suicide amongst Veterans
- Learn how you or your agency can become a VA Community Partner and help:
- Identify Veterans and/or military family members with suicide risk
- Promote connectedness
- Increase lethal means and safety planning
VA Suicide Prevention Staff:
La Wanda C. L. Girton, MSW, LCSW
Pronouns: She, Her, Hers
Community Engagement and Partnership Coordinator
Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center
Cell: 317-556-5340
Melissa Weber, LCSW
Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Roudebush VA Medical Center
317-988-2078; ext 182078
Resources from today's meeting:
- How to request tele-mental health
- Working together to Prevent Suicide - Contact La Wanda and become a Community Engagement Partner!
- Copy of today's HVPI Quarter 3 Meeting PowerPoint.
Webinar: We Honor Veterans Webinar: suicide Prevention in Vietnam Veterans
Other Resources
We Honor Veterans (WHV) website is a plethora of resources for agencies working with Veterans at End of life.
VA End of Life Benefits Overview: Learn about Benefits for Veterans and families at end of life including those offered by Veteran's Health Administration (VHA), Veteran's Benefit's Administration (VBA) and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). Materials covered include home care, respite, nursing home benefits, survivor benefits, enrollment, hospice, concurrent care, and more
Thank you to everyone that attended our Partnership meeting on 6/15/24. We had a very informative presentation by Erin Hamilton from the VA National Cemetery. Erin shared a plethora of great information. Here are 3 takeaways that hospice agencies can do to help Veterans and their families with planning for funeral arrangements are: 1. Make sure they have a copy of their DD14/military discharge paperwork: If they don’t, they can request a copy here: Request Military Service Records | National Archives . Erin also suggested they can check their local county gov’t offices if they were drafted. 2. Encourage them to call the National Cemetery Administration (local cemetery offices or the national scheduling office) to confirm Veteran’s eligibility for free burial in a national cemetery. See attached brochures for #s 3. Encourage them to contact a benefits rep that can verify if they are eligible for any Veteran’s Benefits Administration Benefits (i.e. Burial Allowance, medallions, headstone, etc). See attached handout “assistance with benefits” for a list of organizations that can help them verify VBA benefit eligibility. Additional National Cemetery Administration Resources can be found on their website: NCA
Here you will find all the resources needed to start your own Pinning Ceremonies. We encourage you to use these documents as is, or adapt them to meet the need of your Veteran based on their service, situation, and location. Attached you will find: We Honor Veterans Pinning Ceremony Description/Guide, sample Pinning Ceremony Script and branch poems.
Download the 2024 Indianapolis VA Palliative Care Fact Sheet for Hospice Partners. This documents the following: Brief description of palliative program Notification of Death Request Process for Enrollment Contact information for services at the Indianapolis VA
Any of the the downloadable PDF organizations/locations can help Veterans, current Service Members and Families apply for VA Disability Compensation, VA Pension, Aid and Attendance, End of life/burial/Survivor Benefits and all other VBA applications.
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