On the recordMay 21, 2019
As I said in my remarks related to Mr. Brindisi's legislation, I visited the Atlanta VA Medical Center and it receives 3,600 referrals per year from the Veterans Crisis Line, which is the highest number of crisis line referrals any individual veteran medical center receives nationwide. I know that at the medical center itself that there is a 22 percent vacancy rate among mental health professionals. They have lost eight psychiatrists across their hospital and outpatient clinics since the beginning of the year. Staff who resigned have cited salaries and workload stress as their main reasons for leaving the VA. Mr. Brindisi's legislation goes to, however, the position of suicide prevention coordinators, and currently, the coordinators at this particular medical center are staffed up, but we are trying to figure out where these staff coordinator positions across the country may be vacant or insufficient because we know these crisis lines are being used. We have to make sure that we have the coordinators to respond to them. But in addition to that, we need coordinators to do the outreach events to reach those veterans who are not connected with the VA. So the VA medical center in Atlanta is just one example of the staffing shortages in VA hospitals and clinics throughout the country. We know that beyond the stress and strain of our psychiatrists and of our suicide prevention coordinators, which Mr.…
