Meeting a Need: Veteran Resources

Veteran Resources

Bartlesville Joins Fight Against Veteran Suicide

by Sharon Reese-McGlory

In August 2021, Bartlesville joined Together With Veterans, as Bartlesville Veterans Suicide Prevention Coalition (BVSPC) joined a nationwide effort to prevent Veteran suicide. This program is sponsored by the U.S. Department for Veterans Affairs Office of Rural Health, and supported by the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (OMHSP). TWV is a partnership to support our nation's heroes, led by the VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center for Suicide Prevention (MIRECC), supported by Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), and implemented by rural Veterans and their community partners.

Suicide is a complex public health issue that affects communities nationwide, with more than 45,000 American adults, including more than 6,000 Veterans, dying by suicide every year. BVSPC is proud to work with VA and WICHE in finding innovative ways to deliver support to service members and Veterans whenever and wherever they need it.

BVSPC utilizes the public health approach by combining community-based prevention strategies and evidence-based clinical interventions to empower action and support service members and Veterans in Washington, Nowata, and Osage Counties. Recent efforts include naming Sharon Reese-McGlory as facilitator and Jane E. Palmer as coordinator. They have also selected the Steering Committee members, which are James Warring, David Taylor, John Williams, Dr. Amy Thornton, Garry Gibson, Charlie Pilkington, Jason Elmore, and Donna Copeland (co-facilitator). They held their first focus group meeting in October to establish a baseline for this area with several community partners: Tri-County Tech, Osage Nation, OESC, Bartlesville Suicide Coalition, Bartlesville Ministerial Association, Oklahoma Veterans Alliance, an ARVEST Bank.

"Bartlesville Veterans Suicide Prevention Coalition (BVSPC) is working hard to end veteran suicide by learning about local strengths, resources, and needs, and building community awareness and capacity to better support veterans and their families," said Reese-McGlory. “We are excited to be a part of this collaboration effort in preventing veterans suicide and looking forward to continuing our efforts over the next year."

Service members or Veterans who are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, and those who know a service member or Veteran in crisis, can call Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255.

For more information on this initiative, please visit BVSPC Facebook page email vspcbville@gmail.com.

In additional news from the Oklahoma Veterans Alliance, on July 19, the new 180,000-square-foot Ernest Childers VA Outpatient Clinic, located at 8921 South Mingo Road in Tulsa, opened its doors for Veterans in Eastern Oklahoma.

Additionally, the Bartlesville VA Clinic facility will serve between 3,500 and 5,000 eligible veterans whose current options are limited to local health care or driving to Tulsa for a VA clinic. The clinic will be in the former Hastings building at 3005 E Frank Phillips Blvd. Funds have been obligated but the projected date wasn’t disclosed.

To enroll for VA health care online, please you can go to va.gov/health-care/apply/application/introduction. To schedule an appointment with the Eastern Oklahoma VA Health Care System, please call 888-397-8387.

Veteran Resources

Veteran Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255

Veteran PTSD Line VA benefits hotline

1-800-273-8255 or 911 1-800-827-1000 GI Bill hotline 1-888-442-4551 • Students outside the U.S. 1-918-781-5678 National pension call center 1-877-294-6380 Support for SGLI or VGLI 1-800-419-1473 VA life insurance programs 800-669-8477 Special issue hotline 800-749-8387