MONTEVALLO — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) on Friday led a veterans’ field hearing to address the veteran suicide and PTSD crises at the American Village in Montevallo.
Titled “Separating Fact from Fiction: Exploring Alternative Therapies for Veterans’ Mental Health," the panel included representatives from Veterans Affairs, Dr. Ilse Wiechers and Dr. Miriam J. Smyth, as well as Dr. Steve Levine, chief patient officer at Compass Pathways, Alabama native Adam Marr, director of operations for the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition, Dr. Jim Wright of UAB, and Brian Schiefer, an Air Force veteran who founded Spinal Cord Injury and Diving Innovation.
Tuberville, a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, emphasized the importance of bringing a hearing of this magnitude that normally takes place in Washington, D.C., to the people of Alabama, which he noted had over 400,000 veterans. After the hearing, the senator emphasized the importance of veterans hearing the discussion to learn about opportunities and ways to assist in their suffering such as hyperbaric chambers and other therapies.
"We had a tremendous opportunity today to enlighten a lot of people about our VA and our veterans, about the new therapies and possible new therapies in the future that we can use to save a lot of young men and women that have served this country bravely but have come back and, unfortunately, had a lot of problems through PTSD and TBI," Tuberville said following the hearing.
"It's a tough situation," he continued. "Folks, we lose 18 veterans a day in this country to suicide. And that's got to stop. And it's gone on for years and years. We've lost more veterans to suicide than we lost in the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War combined, and that's not acceptable. We can't continue that."
The entire hearing can be watched below.
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