Ty Hegland – CEO, Prairie St. John’s, Fargo

With September being Suicide Prevention Month, I wanted to take a minute to highlight transformative legislation to serve one of our most important patient populations, veterans. In January, The COMPACT Act went into effect across the U.S. and dramatically improved accessibility for mental health services for veterans. The act allows all honorably discharged veterans who are experiencing a suicidal crisis to go to any mental healthcare facility for no-cost treatment. Veterans do not need to be enrolled to use this benefit.

The COMPACT Act allows the VA to:

– Provide, pay for, or reimburse treatment of eligible individuals’ emergency suicide care, transportation costs and follow-up care at a VA or non-VA facility for up to 30 days of inpatient care and 90 days of outpatient care.

– Make referrals for care following the period of emergency suicide care.

This expansion of access to care is designed to help prevent veteran suicide by guaranteeing no-cost behavioral healthcare in times of crisis. It will also increase access to suicide preventative care for up to 9 million veterans who are not currently enrolled in VA.

If someone is experiencing an emotional crisis or thoughts of suicide, 24/7 assessments are available by contacting us directly. National public helplines include:

– 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7 no-cost and confidential support for individuals in distress, including prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones. Simply call or text 988, or chat 988lifeline.org.

– The Veterans Crisis Line, for U.S. Military Veterans, call 988 and press 1.

– Trevor Lifeline, the only national 24/7 lifeline for LGBTQ youth, is reached at 1-866-488-7386.