(MURFREESBORO) September is Suicide Prevention Month, and VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System is hosting its annual Lethal Means Safety Day throughout the month to spread awareness on suicide prevention tactics.

• Locally, the Alvin C. York VA Medical Center is hosting the clinic Sept. 28, 2023
• If you can't make the Murfreesboro clinic, it will be Sept. 14 at the Nashville VA Medical Center
• September 27 at the Chattanooga VA Clinic

Veterans will have an opportunity to learn about the connection between firearm safety, mental health care, overdose prevention and can get free gun locks to secure their weapons.

“Raising awareness about firearm safety and overdose prevention is our top priority,” Lesley Murray, TVHS Suicide Prevention Program Manager said. “Often times, suicidal thoughts are impulsive and time-limited, so being able to put time and distance between the thought and the action is critical.”

Although the national number of Veteran suicides decreased, firearm injury was the leading cause of death in 2020, according to VA’s 2022 National Suicide Prevention Annual Report.

In Tennessee, there were 182 Veteran suicides in 2020, a 1.2% drop compared to 2019, and firearm injury accounted for 76.9% of those deaths, a 4.7% decrease compared to 2019.

VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System is an integrated tertiary health care system comprised of two hospitals, the Alvin C. York campus in Murfreesboro and the Nashville campus, as well as 19 community-based outpatient clinics located in Tennessee and Kentucky. TVHS provides ambulatory care, primary care, and secondary care in acute medicine and surgery, specialized tertiary care, transplant services, spinal cord injury outpatient care, and a full range of extended care and mental health services.