A former director of the Department of Veterans Affairs hotline for suicidal veterans says more than one-third of its calls are rolled over to lower-tiered operators.
Greg Hughes, who formerly oversaw the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line, said before leaving his post in June that problems at the agency — along with employees’ poor work ethic — are undermining the mission, according to internal emails obtained by Military Times.
“[First-line operators] spend very little time on the phone or engaged in assigned productive activity,” Mr. Hughes said in an email just weeks before resigning, the Times reported Monday. He estimated that up to 40 percent of calls are forwarded to backup centers elsewhere, often times because hotline workers “routinely request to leave early.”
David Shulkin, the VA’s undersecretary for health, said in a statement that the rate of veterans’ suicides (20 per day) is a health crisis, but that operators “are saving thousands of lives.”
“We will not rest as long as there are veterans who remain at risk,” Mr. Shulkin said, Military Times reported.
The crisis hotline received over 500,000 calls in 2015.
VA officials announced Monday that new staff are being hired for its New York-based office and a hub in Atlanta will open soon.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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