Published: May 18, 2009 11:44 pm      

Lieutenant governor calls for coordination of efforts

FROSTBURG — Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown called for coordination between local, state and federal governments to provide veterans and deployed service members with better access to mental and behavioral health services during a press conference Monday at Frostburg State University.

Brown was at FSU to attend a meeting of the Maryland Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Board.

“Last Monday, five American soldiers, including one of our neighbors, were killed during a shooting at Camp Liberty clinic in Baghdad,” Brown said. “This tragedy is an eye-opener, a sad eye-opening. I think the important lesson here is that we continually work across all levels of governments to ensure we’re providing our veterans, their families, soldiers currently deployed, with quality mental and behavioral health treatment.”

Brown said suicide attempts of active personnel have increased 600 percent since the war in Iraq began. He said everyone in government has an obligation to improve treatment and expand access for behavioral health services for veterans.

“We need to get to them early; get them the care that they need. This is one of the most basic obligations we have at any level of government,” he said. “So today we are calling on all levels of government, local, state and federal, to better coordinate, better cooperate and strike existing and creating new partnerships with one goal in mind, providing our veterans with immediate access to behavioral health services upon conclusion of a tour of duty, including mandatory mental health screening.”

Brown said that Maryland has taken many steps to expand mental and behavioral health services to veterans. During the 2008 session of the Maryland General Assembly, Brown led efforts to pass the Veterans Behavioral Health Act. This act set aside $2.3 million for behavioral health services for veterans, he said.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has launched the Maryland Commitment to Veterans campaign. The campaign will help educate veterans about available services and help returning service members transition back to civilian life.

“Our goal is for all veterans to get the needed behavioral health services when and where they need it, no questions asked,” department Secretary John Colmers said. “We have created the Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Board in order to get input from all across the state.”

Colmers said to obtain this goal local, state and federal government needs to cooperate with each other.

“We are busting through the lines that separate local, state and federal governments,” he said.

Wilbert Forbes, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, said the state is also engaged in expanding and widening veteran outreach.

“We need to reach out to all veterans, in every corner of the state and nation, and give them the help they need,” he said. “We found out we can do this through social networks like MySpace and Twitter. So we developed the Network of Care.”

This Web site provides veterans with basic information and knowledge they should have in assisting with health care when they return from service.

“It is helpful in getting them the care they need,” he said.

For more information about the Maryland Commitment to Veterans campaign, visit www.veterans.maryland.gov. To visit Network of Care, visit www.networkofcare.org.

Contact Tess Hill at thill@times-news.com.