i'd like to thank you all for coming and attending our press conference. very excited today to announce bold, new initiative and a partnership with the department of veterans affairs to address the veterans mental health crisis. in just a moment, i will bring up to the podium amvets national commander marion polk, but before i do, i would just like to ask you guys that when we get

to the question and answer portion we have this handy wireless mike that we're going to pass around. please pass it around, use it for the benefit of the audio for our television cameras in the back, okay. if you would be so kind as to turn off the ringers on your phones, we'll begin very, very shortly. and, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce to you amvets national commander marion polk. >> good morning. >> morning. >> ladies and gentlemen, i would like to thank all of you for attending today's press conference. today amvets is both pleased and excited to partner with the va to announce a bold new program to confront the mental health crisis in our country by providing direct services to so many veterans who need access to the va mental healthcare.

we're calling on our new faceted program, the heal, that's h-e-a-l, which stands for healthcare, evaluation, advocacy and legislation. in a moment you'll get an opportunity to speak about the details of this program with senior vha officials as well as amvets chief medical executive lana mckenzie who will lead our heal time. but first, this is my honor to introduce the secretary of veterans affairs, dr. david shulkin. [ applause ] >> well, good morning. i'm very pleased to be here for this very special event. commander polk, thank you for your leadership and joe chenelly, great job leading amvets and sherman gillums which is he's right here and lana, thank you all for being here. i think everybody knows that

mental health and in particular suicide prevention is our top clinical priority at the department of veterans affairs and that's why i wanted to be here personally today because this is so important to us. and it's these types of collaborations that i think are going to have the biggest impact. and you know at va we've done a lot of things this year to try to impact and reduce the number of veteran suicides. we have a new executive order that weebl giving the president a plan this week to give every active service member mental health benefits. when they leave the service currently only 40% receive those benefits if the we've been using predictive analytics and expanded our veterans crisis line. we're expanding the number of mental health professionals. but most important is to work with our partners to outreach to veterans who are in need of help because we know that mental healthcare saves lives and we can do more. so this type of initiative is really important.

i think every program that i know of that has been effective in government and va has two essential components to it and think amvets got this right. the essential component number one is to have a good acronym, and heal, commander, i mean, you know, that is exactly what this program's intended to do, to heal our veterans. and so you got that right. and then of course number two is picking the right people to lead your initiatives. and you got that right as well. what good leaders and good people do is they picky infective people to run their programs. and joe and commander, i can't imagine picking somebody more effective to run any program related to veterans than sherman gillums. this is a man that is -- that lives the passion for helping fellow veterans. he tells the truth bei, sometim wish wouldn't be so truthful. but he speaks his mind.

he's not going to let anything stop him from doing what's right and he is clear lit rigly the r person to lead this. he picks good people to help lead the team and lana is exactly that type of person too. so there's no way this could fail with the right acronym and the right person leading this and with amvets behind it. this program which is really run by amvets but in coordination and partnership with va is something that we really welcome. we need more of this. and, you know, effective people talk effectively, but they act effective organizations say the right thing but they act. in this case you have individuals and organization not only talking right way, but acting. so this type of initiative is action on helping us reduce veteran suicide and helping veterans who are in need. the helpline, the case management services, the town halls that you're going to do as part of this heal initiative is exactly what i think son torch.

a -- is on target. and partnering with va is exactly the right thing. so my full support. we will be there every step along the way that you need us and it is my pleasure to introduce the man who is really made this a reality and along with the commander has the vision to see this implemented, joe chenelly. joe, by the way, you always learn something from an event. is not only himself a decorated combat veteran and has spent his life dedicated to serving others, but worked for military times. i didn't know that. worked for usa today, i didn't know that. worked for dav, dint know that. so he has just a breadth of experience that he brings to this. and we're so fortunate that he's one of the top leaders in veteran advocacy and that he's

spending his time and energy to help all of us. so, joe, thank you so much. [ applause ] >> amvets was founded in 1944 and almost 75 years later we're the most inclusive, national, congressionally chartered veteran service organizations representing the interests of 20 million veterans. as odd ad video indicates for veterans we realize that this veterans community is in crisis. that's why amvets has chosen to make this investment to start this heal team. and as veterans healthcare landscape evolves with the expansion of care in the community and restructuring of the specialized services in the a unfolds, there's exists a northeastward advocates to combat suicide rates particular pli among veterans who face transition stress from soon after leaving the service. so with that, amvets is making this investment to place a team

of licensed healthcare experts on the front lines where american veterans have direct access to a clinician who can guide them through the maze of the va healthcare system. it's a real pleasure to be able to introduce the leader of our team, her biois in your media kids, lana mckenzie who is amvets first chief medical executive. [ applause ] >> i actually need a stepping stool. good morning, everyone. thank you secretary shulkin, commander polk, executive director chenelly for giving me this opportunity to join you today. thank you member of the media and policymakers for joining us today as we take this proactive approach to one of the most critical issues facing our

country, military and veteran mental health. what this issue is not new to most of us, we can all agree that it has reached the crisis level and deserves to be treated as such. starting right now. this is why we're here today. american veterans also known as amvets stand out as one of the longest serving and most inclusive veteran service organization in the country. and now the organization stand out for another reason, for being the only veteran service organization has prioritized and heavily invested in the effort of confronting mental health crisis that so many veterans are facing. we have all heard about 20 a day to take their own life. and those who get dishonorable discharge from the military or

become incarcerated without first receiving support and treatment they need. we should include mental health services. today, we are here to change that with a real investment to invoking change. amvets investment including hiring me on as chief medical executive and allowing me to use my long-standing record advocating for a nation hero. i will lead the amvets heal team. amvets heal team will consist of a group of highly dedicated, licensed professionals who have experience working with the va healthcare system. particularly in specialized services where veterans with traumatic brain injuries commonly refer to as tbi and

mental health issue forward in the high-risk category for suicide and need the most complex care. you may be thinking why now? the answer is simple. because we all know better. we have a responsibility to do better. there are more than 300,000 veterans who have returned from iraq and afghanistan to a situation where many face post traumatic stress or major depressions and an estimated 320,000 veterans who incur some degree of tbi during deployment. not to mention those who likely suffer these conditions during previous conflicts and training exercises. the amvets heal team would not

only ensure that any veterans who are sick and support have access to many va services available. we will also proactively seek out those veterans who may have fallen through gaps of the system of care. those veterans and returning troops with ptsd, major depression, or tbi, all of these conditions who needs the most help but receive the least support. the amvets heal team has challenged itself to bridge as many of these critical gaps as possible. with a pro active community approach. first, we will facilitate access to appropriate mental health screening and treatment plan to ensure it includes proper follow-up. which cannot be overemfa sides

as essential to successful recovery and reintegration to our communities. secondly, we will provide immediate access to our services by joining with amvets leadership in a series of public forums, round tables, and town hall meetings in local communities around the country. third, we will hear directly from veterans, family, caregivers, va clinicians, and community providers so that we can appreciate the challenges at every level and talk our way to action, real action that bring about effective change. as you heard from secretary shulkin, this effort to confront the mental health crisis will require all hands on deck. dr. shulkin has made mental health and eliminating veterans suicide his top priority as va

secretary. and dr. carolyn clancy is actively engaged as a leader of a coalition of leaders who are following her lead. they have stepped up. now it's our turn. we will work closely and collaborative with department of veteran affairs and share the data we gather from the user of va and community services to turn to us to remove barrier to access. so summarize, amvets goal is to ensure every single veteran in this country who need help will receive the appropriate level of sustained and wholistic care he or she needs to live a full, complete life after service. as partner of the va we are taking on ambitious challenge of fighting any and all solutions that get us closer to ending

veteran suicide. we intend to heal american veterans no matter how tough and challenging and our work will continue until we get to one day we can finally report zero suicide a day and an end to veteran mental health crisis in our country. i understand dr. shulkin has to leave for the white house meeting. we'll give him a few minutes to make his way out. as he does, i would like to invite executive in charge of veteran health administration dr. carolyn clancy and amvets chief strategy officer sherman gillums to join me at the podium to answer any question you may

have. >> we'll now take your questions. yes. remember i'm passing around this mike. please use it for the guys in the back. >> yeah, i had, leo shane with military times. talk to me about the cost of this partnership. is there any cost to the va and, if not, how much is amvets investing in this? >> when we talk about investment and we talk about real investment, that's exactly a part of it. when we approach leadership in amvets about the possibility of standing up air te team that woo

this, the real cost was in the talent put could put five or six people in any program and run it, but the cost here is in the people we've invested in. so we've got licensed professionals who we brought on to be a part of the outreach to veterans and actual deliver ry services which will entail access to va, dealing with leadership in va. so they had to be also familiar with the va healthcare system. so the cost is what weapon paid to have these -- this group of professionals join us. and as far as the cost to va, really it's just the time to collaborate with us. we didn't add any costs to our relationship except that we're going to put time into working with dr. clancy and her team and dr. shulkin at his level when necessary. there are travel costs and other things involved when we do the town halls, but guess what? guess who's stepping up to pay those costs? people who invest in amvets.

these are corporations, these are foundations, this is yet an opportunity for the public and the corporate sector to find a role in how we carryout this program. those are still being determined. we've already fielded requests from companies and even amvets posts that want to fund a lot of what we're going to do. i don't know if that answers your question completely or whoa, but the cost is minimal compared to the return we're getting. i think we've lucked out in that way. >> and just to add to that, leo, i can't overemphasize how important it is to have this kind of assistance on the front lines connecting veterans to our services. because when you hear the number 20 a day, the veset transwho ge into our system for mental health services have better outcomes and their risk of suicide is dramatically lowered. that's not to say it's flawless

but it's much, much better than if they're not connected. some veterans may not be enrolled or may not think that it would be a good thing for them do or they're anxious about it, whatever the reason. i know first hand that having, you know, interacted with many, many veterans or family members of veterans whose family member does not want to come into one of our medical systems, getting them to a vet center, if they know about va, is incredibly helpful. i would expect this will have the same kind of amplification effect and it's just hugely important. >> hi, joyce freeden from med age today. i wanted to follow up on the previous question if there's anything you can release in terms of a dollar amount it's helpful. and also if we could find out anything about the scope of this in terms of the number of people you're going to have doing

outreach nationwide and are you hiring people full time? is this part time? how is it working? >> well, when we first conceptualized the plan, it was actually a pretty lofty price tag, i think close to a million dollars. and we significantly reduced that by being very frugal about what the needs were versus all the other akrut traments. we didn't add any fluff in the budget, and i'd estimate about $700,000, that's for all the i.t., all the travel, all the professionals. and, again, the idea is to present this almost as a stock where companies will invest in what we're doing. so there was no real up front coasts that amounted to that much, but the projected costs willing depending on how many people want us to come to their communities and do these round tables and town halls. so it could go up, but it will

be spread out across a lot of opportunities who see this as an investment. but if you want a dollar figure, about $700,000, which is minimal compared to, like i said, the return we're going to get if and when we meet our objectives. i think there was another question you added to that, i don't remember what. >> how the full time or part time people and how they're going to be allocated. >> right. >> and 700,000 -- i'm sorry, is that amvets investment or what you're hoping to raise? >> it's kind of both. this was what we understand the price tag to be. we have a lot of confidence in our ability to pull this off. and, like i said, we've already got people ponying up. we may have two too many dwhas we'll have to field with respect to going to different towns, meeting with governors. think the governor of missouri expressed an interest in doing a town hall in the kansas city area. so this is going to grow legs. right now we're a team of six. these are all licensed clinicians that will -- when we

say the front lines, we're talking about being accessible to veterans and caregivers. we're going to go find these people. and all of us has worked in many ways across the system and had the ability to find the vulnerabilities in the system and find where veterans often end up when they don't get the services they need, and then pull them back in. so that's going to be a big challenge because we know the statistic is 11 out of 20 don't have a relationship with va. well, we need to find them, all right. that's how we do that. and if necessary pull them into va or find a resources they need so that they're not part of the unfortunate 20 a day eventually. >> hi, i'm carolyn from advice news and hbo. i just wondered if you could explain a little bit more about the relationship between amvets and va on this project. could you explain a little bit more about how the person might be shared or how that

relationship is going to kind of pan out in reality? >> sure. the veterans service organization have long-standing relationship working with department of veteran affairs and the veteran health administration have long-standing relationship working with veterans service organization who have interests in advocating for healthcare challenges. we work collaboratively by bringing real issues to the table. and also contribute solutions and recommendations. how we can collaborate in resolving some of these issues, the issue we brought to the table normally is from the user, from the veteran who truly experienced some of the challenges. they were unable to get an foimt because. distance or not having user friendly hours, or veteran too early maybe we should bring him

back in. those are some of the issue that we work closely with the veteran health administration. and at local level we call on the local level director, to the visiting director, to central office, dr. clancy get our me ail all the time. but that's how we collaborate work with the va. >> one current effort is once we heard about the executive order mandating that veterans from who are one year post service and earlier get access to services, well, somebody's got to implement that. how do we do that? where do we start? one of the first things we did was we met with dr. frank wlolio was put in charge of the implementation of the executive order and ensure that not on the va field staff get the word, but the veterans understand how to -- how they can benefit that. that requires outreach, requires understanding how the system works, where the vul neshnerabis

are. where the gaps are when they're not going to the va. as it expands we have to find the veterans. and the va doesn't have unlimited resources to do those types of things and we don't either, but together we're forcing plult pliers in that effort. that's just a current example of how we intend to work together. that's not to say other organizations can't, we hope that they will follow in our lead and show this is a model that works. so we hope that other organizations will follow suit so we can expand that ability even more. >> hi, modern healthcare put mentioned community care. how does this expansion of mental health services play into the va choice expanding as well? >> that's a great question, thank you. let me just emphasize one thing that may not be self-evident to

people. about 9 million of the nation's veterans are enrolled in our healthcare system. but when we're talking about our efforts in suicide prevention we are talking about all veterans. so working with vsos and others is quite vital to reaching those who are not part of our system period. now, some of them aren't part of our system because any have their own insurance through work or medicare or something. but in any case, our scope and attention is focused on all veterans. in some cases, right now you can get into any of our facilities the same day today if you have an urgent problem in primary care or mental health, that's nietion weighed. in some communities, some veterans may prefer or it will be easier for them geographically depending on where they live to get care in the community and that is and will continue to be covered by our community care programs. that said, if you saw the rand

study last week, rhyme trying to scratch my brain to remember if magazine covered this, they were funded by a new york state foundation to look at how well private sector providers are equipped to deal with veterans mental health issues. and they identified some gaps. we'll be meeting with the rand team and also trying to figure out as we are referring people out to the community that they understand how they can avail themselves of some of our continuing education programs and so forth. this is one area where we make that widely available online and so forth. it's very much part of community care. >> rachel mall dill, news service. had you said that this includes better access to services, i was wondering what the logistics of that is and how people are going to have this better access.

>> we will have a health line that will be a toll free for a caller and also we receive e-mail and also we are setting up a chat online. so we know that there are certain generation they want to chat online instead of making a phone call. so we're trying to make it user friendly for veteran who face some of the barrier to, you know, gain access to a clinician and talk about their challenges or maybe help them navigate some of the complexity of the healthcare system. >> so i would just note there's two issues i think where this is usually helpful to access. one is just reducing the stigma. having another veteran from an organization that you trust say it's okay, this is actually a good thing to do to move forward and many, many others have gotten help that they needed and it's a new day and so forth means far, far more than anyone

from vha could necessarily share. i mean, it's not that they wouldn't believe us, but it is a different kind of source of credibility and so forth. the other thing i would just mention, many of the veterans in our system actually live in rural areas, much higher proportion than americans in general, and one of the most rapidly growing areas of our system is telehealth for mental health services. so we have hubs that are providing care to veterans all over the place. dr. shulkin himself provides telehealth services to veterans in i think it's grant's pass oregon, it's a very tiny community. >> kim with washington tonian here. i guess to piggyback on the logistics question and the telehealth comment, i was wondering with the rise of the using of technology, especially in the yonger veterans who mobile app components might being at hand or readily available with us. >> we have a whole array of

mental health apps. in fact, we've been discussing with external partners whether we should be evaluating them and so forth. but we have already developed more than three dozen of these which you can download for free and so forth. and they range from apps that, you know, have theory, practical easy strategies for dealing with stress to a whole array of other approaches. but, yes, i think a lot of younger folks would like that. veterans, yes, but also other younger people. i do have people i know who can't imagine would you ever go in to talk to someone for counseling because that's never been their experience or that of their friends. they do it by phone or some other modality. >> are they free? >> the apps, yes, totally free. >> do we have any other questions? in that case, i wou