Photo By Staff Sgt. Andrew Valenza | Army Maj. Gen. Jill Faris, Director of the Office of the Joint Surgeon for the...... read more read more
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The New York Army Guard’s medical professionals talked Soldier care and suicide prevention during a Sept. 21-23 conference at the Stratton Veterans Administration Medical Center in Albany.
“Leaders are coming together with Soldiers just to talk about access to care, life circumstances, anything that might be off track for a Soldier where peers can help, where leadership can help and where we can bring support to bear,” said Col. William LeCates, the New York National Guard State Surgeon.
New York Army National Guard medical professionals came together to improve their clinical skills during the Medical Detachment training.
September is recognized as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, so the topics focused on those behavioral health issues.
The workshop brought together a wide range of medical professionals and learn and discuss with each other ways to improve their interactions with Soldiers, especially those in distress, said Capt. Samuel Chubb, the State Surgeon’s Office operations officer and event organizer.
There are limited opportunities for them to come together in this way, Chubb said, and the biggest takeaway participants told him they received at the event was a better understanding of available resources.
“I think that one of the things that we struggle with as an organization is that we don't necessarily always understand from top to bottom, how the process works and who you need to call in specific situations,” Chubb said.
New York’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Ray Shields, spoke with the providers about sexual assault and suicide prevention and stressed the importance of encouraging Soldiers to speak up.
When dealing with mental health issues, it is okay to seek help, he said.
“That is a message to carry forward to the field, he told the Medical Command health care specialists.
“If you are if you are depressed, if you are thinking about suicide, that is not a weakness,” Shields said. “If you had a broken leg, you would go to the doctor, right?” Shields asked rhetorically.
“So, what is the difference? If you are having an issue with mental health, there is no difference. There is no difference, and we don't see it as any different,” he said.
The event offered instruction for both National Guard and VA medical providers.
The workshop also included remarks from Army Maj. Gen. Jill Faris, Director of the Office of the Joint Surgeon for the National Guard Bureau.
LeCates said there are resources across the state for Soldiers that need help with mental health issues.
“We need to connect people in need to those resources,” LeCates said.
“Bringing them together is really one of the key challenges. And so, at the unit, at the very smallest gathering level, we want people to talk about behavior, health, we want to talk about wellness, and we want to bring people together with the resources,” he added.
National Guard Soldiers are a special case, said Leah MacDonald, a social worker at the VA, because they are more spread out than active-duty Soldiers who are often stationed together on one post.
And with state activations for emergency response efforts, MacDonald said, they are activated more frequently now than ever before.
“We are partnering anywhere and everywhere that will allow us to get out information about suicide prevention and training to ensure that folks know what to do,” MacDonald said.
“This is not just specific to mental health providers, but just the general person dealing with someone who may have someone in their lives that is struggling with mental health concerns, or if they themselves are struggling with mental health concerns,” he added.
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.28.2023 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 454535 |
| Location: | ALBANY, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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