Frontier Psychiatry reposted this
Gregory Kendall just got his job back at the Atlanta VA. He was fired last year after telling a local reporter that over 7,000 phone calls for mental health services went unanswered. In the dismissal letter, VA officials said he had "poor judgment" when he made the problems public. I think he showed remarkable courage and compassion for the Veterans who spent hours trying to get help. Two weeks ago Military(dot)com published another story alleging that VA staff have been deliberately canceling mental health appointments at the last minute. The practice was designed to obscure the fact that VA clinics didn't have enough staff to deliver much-needed mental health services. Officials were apparently trying to prevent more expensive referrals to community-based providers. A money-saving tactic. Some families have filed lawsuits against the VA, saying that the last-minute cancelations directly led to Veteran suicides. I can't believe that we're still reading stories like these. How is this happening? More than 20 Veterans kill themselves every day across the US. I'm grateful for the courage and advocacy demonstrated by Mr. Kendall and the heartbroken family members. Please share this post to amplify their voices.