Georgia advocates and veterans denounced Strains in a system meant to support mental health treatment for thousands of veterans. They cite a lack of VA therapists available to treat veterans in the state and frequent staff turnover.
Whistleblower complaints often focused on the malfunctioning of what is supposed to be the first tier of support: mental health calls made directly to the Veterans Affairs Agency in Atlanta. The complaint alleges that of the approximately 22,000 mental health calls received by the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Health System over a 12-month period, approximately 7,200 went unanswered. The suit says the VA’s human resources department was slow to hire applicants who could answer the phones, and the Atlanta VA had about a third of the staff needed to answer the calls.
According to the Atlanta VA, approximately 50% of mental health calls went unanswered in April 2023 alone. The AJC also spoke with a veteran who said he called the Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs about 10 times last year when he was in a mental health crisis. Only about half of the time did someone answer, she said.
The trend has since reversed.
The Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs reported responding to 96.5% of the 24,152 mental health-related calls it received from January to October 2024. On average, someone from the VA answered the phone within 26 seconds. In contrast, in April 2023, the average time to answer a call was 14 minutes and 51 seconds.
The Atlanta VA says this systematic improvement is largely due to the health system’s new team of 10 dedicated staff members dedicated to mental health inquiries. Currently, health system officials say they consistently exceed national standards for call taker response times and call handling. According to the Atlanta VA, the standards aim for less than 5% of calls to go unanswered before the caller hangs up, and for at least 80% of calls to be answered within 30 seconds.
The Department of Veterans Affairs in Atlanta said it has also implemented a callback process. Currently, abandoned calls with identifiable numbers are immediately redialed. More broadly, the Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs said the increase in call takers has significantly improved response rates for primary care and other calls.
The VA Office of Inspector General, which is responsible for investigating complaints, has not yet released its findings. An agency spokesperson said that as a general matter, VA OIG “does not confirm or deny ongoing investigations, inspections, or audits.”
But another agency, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, already brokered a $10,000 settlement with an Atlanta VA public information officer earlier this year. That officer, Greg Kendall, said he faced retaliation for trying to release more information about the matter after the AJC’s report on the whistleblower incident.
“I think it’s safe to say that VA leadership in Atlanta is more interested in attacking whistleblowers than in caring for mentally ill patients,” Kendall, the spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Mr Kendall said it was time for the public to find out exactly what went wrong and why phone lines remained clogged for so long.
“How many other Atlanta veterans have had similar experiences? Who is to blame for this grave failure of veterans?” he said in a statement. “That is why it is imperative that the VA Inspector General release its findings on this matter as soon as possible.”
Veterans in immediate crisis should dial 988, the national mental health hotline, then press 1. You can also chat online. VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chator text 838255.
