Physical Well-Being

The Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments will team up in August to hold a conference on suicide prevention in Nashville.

The meeting, the first in two years, will bring together the suicide prevention offices of both departments and the military services, as well as subject-matter experts from academia, nonprofit groups and veterans and military support organizations, to address the ongoing battle against active-duty and veteran suicides.

WASHINGTON — As a result of a partnership with Verizon, Veterans who are customers of the telecommunications company, as of June 27, will have unlimited access to the U.S. va logo300Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) VA Video Connect telehealth app.

President Donald Trump signed the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act into law late Tuesday, a move that will fast-track disability compensation for personnel with medical conditions related to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange.

Federal suicide prevention efforts in coming months will include increased focus on veterans’ access to firearms, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said during a Capitol Hill appearance Wednesday.

“It is key,” he said during a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on his department’s recent efforts to address the problem. “Seventy percent of veterans who (die by suicide) do so with firearms. We’re dealing with a population that has a special familiarity with firearms. So we’re working on ways to build time and space … between thoughts and impulsive acts.”