Brighter Days Ahead
(Left) Myra Brazell, Orlando VA’s Suicide Prevention Coordinator, and Cindy Hetue, Suicide Prevention Case Manager, prepare for customers Friday in Lake Nona. Their team’s suicide prevention efforts and innovations have reduced the number of at-risk Veterans below State and National levels. DVA photo by Mike Strickler.
LAKE NONA, Fla. -- Rain and clouds are common in an Orlando summer but for some Veterans here the metaphorical darkness of suicidal thoughts can hang on day after day.
For this reason, the Orlando VA Medical Center’s Suicide Prevention Team actively seeks out Veterans at risk to alleviate their suffering, and each September, the team joins a national effort during Suicide Prevention Month to bring this often-taboo subject into the light of assistance and recovery.
Myra Brazell, Orlando VA’s Suicide Prevention Coordinator, and Cindy Hetue, a Suicide Prevention Case Manager, are part of the top-notch Orlando team that has begun to make a significant difference in the fight to save and change lives.
“Suicide can be a taboo subject and we take this month specifically to get the message out and to hit it hard,” said Brazell. “Suicide is prevalent everywhere, across cultures, religions, races, ages and socio-economic levels. It literally touches lives everywhere.”
Brazell, Hetue and the team took the last week to focus on suicide prevention throughout the greater Orlando VA community, from service centers and clinics from Orange City and Clermont to Daytona Beach, Lake Nona, Leesburg, Melbourne and Viera. Their step one: alleviate the myth.
“We want our people to know that suicide is not a taboo,” said Brazell, “and it’s a myth that speaking about suicide plants the idea in a person’s head. It’s as false as doctors’ questions about chest pain actually giving you angina.”
“Here we operate on a basis of hope and there’s always hope for those suffering from suicidal thoughts,” said Hetue. “We encourage them to seek help; in fact, we make it easy for them to do so through the Veterans Crisis Line.”
Brazell recognized that Veterans must often overcome stigma and embarrassment about their feelings, so the team encourages them to bring their concerns to medical professionals in whatever way suits them.
“We let people know the feelings they’re having are not a judgment on themselves but instead a medical condition and that it is entirely acceptable and appropriate to talk about them with us,” she said.
The Orlando VA suicide prevention program works on a recovery-focused basis and believes that those suffering with suicidal thoughts can reach a point of recovery if they seek assistance. Brazell says hope is the first step in regaining a full and sustained life, and that hope should begin the moment patients reach one of the VA care facilities.
“The care and concern that we show, from the time a patient enters our grounds until they leave, has lasting effect on their positive perceptions of us and their attitudes in general,” Brazell said. “Our proof is in the statistics that show Orlando VA lower than the State and National average among patients at high risk for suicide per 100,000.
I believe the way we treat them here has a direct correlation and I’m not just talking about our suicide prevention team. The men and women across the facilities perpetuate that positive patient experience, and I think that is what’s making the difference,” she said.
“Our Employees and their attitudes matter so much and they’re doing a great job here.”
The Orlando efforts have come with a fair amount of innovation as well. According to Brazell, recent studies identified connectedness, or a lack thereof, as a prime factor in suicidal tendencies. To combat it the Orlando VAMC sends monthly cards out to anyone who has ever been on its high-risk list and continues that practice for at least a year.
“Something as simple as reaching out through the mail has shown very positive results in suicide prevention,” said Brazell.
Another innovation includes placing the Veterans Crisis Line information on the caps of prescription medication bottles distributed by VA mail-away pharmacies.
“Suicide by overdose is a real problem and so we aimed to meet the challenge at the point of ingestion,” said Brazell. “Our Consolidated Mail-Out Pharmacies accounts for 80 percent of all medications Veterans receive, and now we’re hitting a huge portion of our targeted audience with a resource they can use before they open the bottle.”
The Veterans Crisis Line is available online at http://veteranscrisisline.net, by telephone at 1-800-273-8255, or via text message at 838255.
