Susan Davis: “I'm very pleased to have an opportunity to join with my colleague from Arizona, Congresswoman Sinema, to talk about the…”

“I'm very pleased to have an opportunity to join with my colleague from Arizona, Congresswoman Sinema, to talk about the issue of veteran suicide today and to do it from a personal perspective here, as well. Daniel Somers, as the Congresswoman noted, was a talented young man, a decorated war hero, and a proud soldier. He asked for help. He did. He reached out to the VA in hopes of being admitted to their suicide prevention unit, but he was informed at that time that there was no inpatient availability, no appointments that he could get right away. We now know that Daniel took his life just a few days later. His case was brought home to me because his parents, Jean and Howard Somers, live in my former district and actually were friends of mine and friends of people that I knew. When I first heard the story, I was taken, as anybody would be, by their grief, by what had happened, and the fact that we just cannot let that happen again. I think they asked the question that we all ask: How could a young man like that fall through the cracks? How was it that people did not respond to him? How can we make a promise to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan when we cannot guarantee placement in a suicide prevention treatment center? One thing I think that we all learn from this is that we have to listen to our constituents.…”