VA asks Legions, local groups for help to prevent veteran suicides

The man in charge of the VA says preventing suicide is the agency’s top priority.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie told the American Legion’s national conference in Indianapolis 20 veterans a day kill themselves, about double the rate of the rest of the population.
He says the VA has begun mental health screenings for everyone who comes to a VA hospital, regardless of what brought them there.
But Wilkie warns the VA can’t do it alone because 70% of those suicides never come to the VA in the first place.
He says the Legion and state and local groups need to play a more active role.

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