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Concerned Citizens of Attala County organize forum to stem suicide among veterans

Jackson Advocate - 8/17/2018

The high rate of suicide among Mississippi veterans has been a concern of Navy veteran Doris Davis of Kosciusko for a long time.

As an organizer of the Concerned Citizens of Attala County, Davis has announced a meeting on the issues of veterans benefits and the suicide problem from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. on August 14 at the Extension Service Building in Kosciusko. Davis is also a social worker in her civilian occupation. Veteran's Service Officer, Mervin Foster, will co-host.

"We're going to talk about veterans benefits as well as the suicide ideation," Davis said. "We will serve breakfast also. We hope that the media will help us inform our veterans, their wives and their survivors of the help that's available. Some people who've served in the military have said that no one told them they could go the VA to receive medical care.

"Initially, we wanted to reach out to Leake, Holmes and the other counties around Attala because we were trying to make the pastors and local leaders throughout this area aware of the veterans who might be parishioners under their ministry and to acclimate them to the high rate of suicide occurring among these veterans. But the board thought that was too much of a reach. And so we will concentrate on gathering as many veterans, local leaders and concerned citizens as possible at the Extension Service office in Kosciusko on August 14."

Davis says she sees the increasing rate of suicide among veterans as an alarming development.

"You've got 21 veterans committing suicide each day, and that's one veteran every 65 minutes," she said. "And you've got people who have served in the military who need to be aware of the signs and the ideation of what's going on with these veterans. That is our purpose, to inform the people and let them know of the life and death issues facing veterans."

Since concluding its study of veterans' mental health and other issues in 2015, the Veterans Administration has announced that it is making "suicide prevention its number 1 clinical priority" and planned to use the research data "to improve and tailor prevention strategies and initiatives." On September 15, 2017, the Veterans Administration released their "Veteran Suicide Statistics by State Report." The VA study showed that 74 Mississippi veterans had committed suicide in the period covered by the study, 1979-2014. Mississippi vets were shown to have a higher rate than the national rate. The average rate among Mississippi veterans is 42.4 per 100,000, significantly higher than the national average of 38.4.

Officials say the highest rate of suicide among veterans is in the age group of 55 to 74 years old.

"It's important to note that suicide is a complex issue with a multitude of contributing factors - and there is no single explanation for disparities in veteran suicide rates across different states," a veteran affairs spokesperson said. "The varying characteristics of each state's veteran population.... make it difficult to compare veteran suicide rates between states."

The Mississippi State University Extension Office is at 715 Fairground Road, Kosciusko. Davis said her group expects to have inputs from Minority Veterans Coordinator Jimmy Manning, and MST/Homeless Coordinator Larry McCook, along with PTSD Coordinator Ruby Jackson, and Chaplain Michael Harris.

For further information, contact Doris F. Davis at 662-739-4937. Email: Dorisfoxdavis7@yahoo.com

The VA Crisis Line is 1-800-273-8255.