Veterans in Visalia, California plan to raise awareness about servicemember suicide rates with a commemorative march, reported the Visalia Times-Delta. The event, called the 22 Veterans a Day Suicide Awareness March, takes place April 22 at 8 a.m.
Joel Rosales, a Navy veteran, organized the march to memorialize the estimated 22 veterans who die by suicide every day.
"It's something I really want to bring forward to our local veterans and community," he told the newspaper. "It's not something that we should take lightly."
Veteran suicide is a major concern for military insiders and outsiders alike. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, servicemembers deployed between 2001 and 2007 have a 41 percent higher risk of suffering from suicide than U.S. civilians. Additionally, operators at the VA's Veterans Crisis Hotline have taken over 2 million calls since 2007.
Over the last few years, the VA and other federal agencies have attempted to address the problem by building out their mental health services. As a result, veteran suicide rates have stabilized, reported the Military Times.
Earlier this year at the VA's annual Veterans Suicide Summit in Washington, D.C., officials talked over new strategies. VA Undersecretary of Health Dr. David Shulkin said his staff would first focus on enrolling veterans in VA care, as 70 percent of servicemembers who die by suicide don't receive care via VA medical facilities. In the end, Shulkin pledged to take meaningful action as soon as possible.
"We're going to come up with a plan. And we're not going to stop until we can figure out how to do more," he said.
In the meantime, Rosales and the organizers of the 22 Veterans a Day Suicide Awareness March will try to make a difference by supporting veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome and other deployment-related psychological illnesses that sometimes precipitate suicide.
"We want them to know that we are here for them," he told the Visalia Times-Delta.