The Maryland Department of Health announced today that the Trained Military Assistance Provider Program has officially launched.
The initiative aims to reduce suicides and increase lethal-means safety for service members and veterans.
“Maryland’s service members and veterans benefit from specially targeted medical and mental health care,” said MDH Secretary Dennis R. Schrader. “With this new resource, we aim to reach providers and practices and let them know we have the information and the tools to help this population before they reach a crisis.”
According to the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, Maryland is home to 350,000 veterans, 30,000 active duty service members and 18,000 reservists/national guard members.
The National Library of Medicine states that 45% of people who died by suicide saw their healthcare provider the month prior and 84% the year prior to their death.
“Educating doctors and nurses, as well as front desk staff and lab techs, is vital. The healthcare team can be appropriately utilized to recognize a service member in need,” said Dr. Lisa Burgess, MDH Acting Deputy Secretary for the Behavioral Health Administration. “It is important that we train everyone on how to recognize warning signs as well as how to have conversations about safely storing weapons, what medications the patient can access, and what protections they can put in place.”
People who decide to participate will be trained on mental health, suicide risk assessment and intervention. The goal of the curriculum will be to help providers better understand military and veteran culture, and to create a safety plan in a military-culturally competent way.
Once the the training is completed, providers will become "Trained Military Assistance Providers" and will receive a physical and a virtual toolkit with resources, including gun locks, locking medicine bags, as well as promotional materials.
The training is free to all Maryland-based primary care staff.
To learn more about the training click here.