Duluth Community Members Host Veteran Suicide Prevention and Awareness Day

DULUTH, Minn. — The Duluth Depot hosted veterans with an important cause over the weekend.

The topic was veteran suicide prevention and awareness. This cause hits close to home as Minnesota lost 101 veterans to suicide last year alone. Organizers say that the venue for this event changes annually to reflect the community with the highest number of veteran suicides, Duluth being that community this year.

“This effort is not just about what we do today, it’s about what we do to each other as we move forward, and I encourage all of us to leave today with a mission to contact one shipmate, one soldier, one airman, one marine, someone you may have served with, someone you just know served,” said Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert. “War has a long tail, and you never know, I mean frankly let’s think about our significant others too, because they don’t know what it is that are the triggers for us, but we have a great ability to watch out for those who have served as we have, and we can speak the language that no one else can in terms of asking them to take care of themselves so that they can take care of those that they love.”

Veteran mental health advocate and creator of the Armadillo Project Shelly Hanson highlights the hopelessness felt by many when trying to get help for a loved one within the system that exists today.

“Who do you call on a holiday weekend, and where do you start, when you’re searching to help with a matter like suicide, there seems to be a wealth of options, yet all seem to have a fine line of who they serve. ‘Did he serve in war, a conflict, with what branch of the military, how old was he, did he have a history of drugs or alcohol, a history of mental health?’ It was difficult enough to reach out for help, but even more defeating to find that he did not fit any of the criteria, he was put on hold when he called the suicide hotline, he was turned away from the local VA clinic, because they did not have his records, I heard from others that he did not look like he would go through with it, and when I stopped to talk with the local veterans group at the resource fair, they chuckled with each other about how his station in Okinawa was a cakewalk,” said Hanson.

The organizations involved with this day hope that their efforts inspire change in the healthcare system so that veterans and their families can get the help that so many desperately need.

“In the national defense authorization act that we passed, we pulsed up hundreds of millions of dollars for our veterans and mental health, not only did I see it as a police officer in Duluth, but I see it in our nation’s capital as well. Together we can push the right message in a bipartisan fashion to make sure that we lose no veterans to suicide,” said Representative Pete Stauber for Minnesota’s 8th District.

Veterans and their families are encouraged to visit this website for more information about the benefits that available.