WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (PA-5) voted to support H.R. 5059, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, which passed the House with unanimous support.
“Passage of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act is another important step in removing barriers that prevent transitioning service members from accessing potentially lifesaving mental health care services and support,” stated Thompson, a cosponsor of H.R. 5059.
H.R. 5059 is named after Marine Cpl. Clay Hunt, who earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, before redeploying to Afghanistan. After being diagnosed with PTSD, Clay sought to help others and raise awareness about depression. Then, on March 31, 2011, Clay, age 28, took his own life.
“This legislation will help to reduce the all-too-common occurrence of veteran suicide by ensuring that health care resources are more readily accessible to our men and women in uniform upon their return from service,” Thompson added.
Clay’s mother, Susan Selke, has detailed the problems Clay encountered at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including lengthy wait times in accessing psychiatric support services. The appeal of his disability rating, which finally came through five weeks after his death, took 18 months to be processed.
“Clay’s story details the urgency needed in addressing this issue,” Selke recently said in testimony before Congress. “Not one more veteran should have to go through what Clay went through with the VA after returning home from war.”
H.R. 5059 increases access to mental health care by, among other things, creating a peer support and community outreach pilot program to assist transitioning service members as well as a one-stop, interactive website of available resources.
The legislation also boosts the accountability of mental health care programs by requiring an annual evaluation of suicide-prevention practices at the VA and the Department of Defense (DoD).
Thompson, an avid supporter of expanding mental health services for both Active Duty military and veterans, has authored several pieces of legislation on this important issue, including the Servicemembers Telemedicine and E-Health Portability (STEP) Act. The STEP Act, which passed into law in 2011, increased access to health services through the expansion of telemedicine throughout the DoD, which was previously restricted.