Wong Q&A: VA mental health wait times and alternatives
Wong asks about longest wait times for mental health services at NYC veteran hospitals. Smalls describes vet centers in each borough as alternatives to VA hospitals, and referrals to nonprofits, Northwell Health, and Health and Hospitals. Wong expresses concern about waits of several weeks to months.
The reason I'm asking is that last year my constituents veteran unfortunately committed suicide and then
I really, really feel that we can do better and we have to keep track of the veterans that live alone and has problems dealing with personal issues.
My next question is...
I understand in veteran hospitals there are wait time on certain health services.
My question is which mental health services have the longest wait time at New York City veteran hospitals?
And what's the reason for these long waits?
Thank you for that question.
I'm not sure of the time frame for the wait, but I
I do know that if we are not able to connect a veteran directly to the VA hospital, there are veteran centers in each borough where a veteran, we can connect a veteran to.
Those are entities, they partner with the VA, but they're outside.
So you don't have to have VA health care to attend the VA health care.
Vet center in order to get help.
And they have clinical clinicians there that can help a veteran in crisis.
But we also help, I mean, we also refer to nonprofits.
We also, outside providers, Northwell Health, health and hospitals, we refer veterans to as well.
Yeah.
It is my understanding that sometimes they can have to wait several weeks or even one or two months in order to get the service they need, and that's very frustrating when I hear about them.
And I hope that there's a system in place that they could go outside.
And get the services rather than wait two or three months, which to me is unacceptable.
If I can also just jump in, I think an important piece too as us, as being the Department of Veteran Services, is that we do not provide that clinical support, so we do not provide that internal mental health counseling or relations, so we work a lot with our community partners to ensure there is that consistency.
And then in cases where there is an immediate need, we also leverage the 988 crisis line for that immediate need.
Immediate support.
Right, yeah.
And I've heard horror stories, your next appointment's in three months, and then when they need urgent care, they need it in a week, not three months.
With that, I have a follow-up question.