ELIZABETHTOWN — A Tuesday lunch at Melvins’ came with two visitors with a singular goal in mind — making headway into the growing crisis of suicide among military veterans and the treatment of mental health issues.

Sen. Thom Tillis and Robert Wilkie, the secretary of Veterans Affairs who grew up in nearby Fayetteville, shook hands, listened to veterans, former federal employees and members of the community, and grabbed a few hot dogs between appearances in Fayetteville and Wilmington.

For one Michael and Metisa Graham, it was a chance to tap into new connections.

“I am an advocate for getting help and better treatment for the veterans,” Michael Graham said. “It’s networking and making more contact for veterans that do need help.

“This way we have another contact, and another foot in the door.”

For him this was a deep personal situation, particularly with health concerns.

“They looked at me and said ‘Give me a call,’ and that they could help me with my stuff, too,” he said.

He’s had multiple surgeries, two on his hip, one on his back and one on his neck.

“It looks like I am facing another hip surgery,” he said.

Those concerns bleed into the family, and his wife, Metisa, said that it is hard.

“One of my biggest frustrations is seeing him, and I can’t do anything,” she said. “It’s hard seeing him in pain and in what he’s going through.”

Michael added, “And to be here with Secretary Wilkie and Senator Tillis, it’s putting a bug in their ear.”

That bug seems to be one that Wilkie thinks needs to addressed immediately, starting from the ground up.

“One of the messages that I have for North Carolina is the growth in the veterans population is stunning,” Wilkie said. “By 2025 we will be number four in the country. By 2030 we will have passed California.”

That stark growth is what is grabbing his attention.

“We have the second-largest rural population in the country, and I think it is only second to Texas,” he said.

Wilkie said that this is why they are expanding their clinics and facilities and that he is leading President Donald Trump’s veteran suicide prevention task force.

“I have said that if we just focus on the last tragic act in a veteran’s life, that it would be just another federal report that nobody would read,” Wilkie said. “But if we focus on mental health, and addiction, then we can make some headway.”

He says that a large component of making that work is same day services, where treatment is there for any veteran that needs it, as well as utilizing things like telehealth, for those that can’t or won’t come into an office for services.

“That’s the biggest step we can make,” Wilkie said. “It reaches people who don’t want to come sit in a room with hundreds of people.”

All that being said, Wilkie explained that first and foremost this has to begin at boot camp, with a change in the culture. He said is “absolutely vital.” That has to start with the senior leadership expressing that it is OK to talk about it.

“We start educating soldiers now when they hit boot camp, and telling them that it is alright to say something to us, if you see something within yourself or in your comrades,” he said.

That education goes to those that are out of service as well, with the word being spread that these services can be available to previously declined segments, like those with OTH — the acronym for “other than honorable” discharges.

Tillis said, “The real challenge is finding those that are not reaching out. I use the staggering statistic that of the average 20 veterans that take their life every 24 hours, every day, two-thirds are not in any way connected to the veterans administration. So the secretary is saying that when they come in they identify people that may not have been coming in for mental health services. Our challenge is reaching out to that population that is not reaching out.

“We are trying to make sure that veterans get the care that they need.”

Tillis said it was a goal to start figuring out who may need help when they transition to veterans status.

“How can we start predicting based off of job assignments or their tragic experiences they may have?” he said, adding, “making people more mindful.”

That mindfulness is an encouragement to Gordon Jeans, who came as a veteran’s crisis intervention instructor.

“I was in for almost 11 years,” he said. “I was a tanker. I teach law enforcement on how to deal with veterans so that no one gets hurt. You have a lot of people running around on both sides of this issue. A lot of people get killed and there’s no need for that.

“As far as being with these guys, it’s always nice to see somebody show up and care, and they give you the time of day. That’s not always an easy thing to find.”

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Sen. Thom Tillis (right) talks with Michael Graham about his experiences as a veteran.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_Graham-4.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Sen. Thom Tillis (right) talks with Michael Graham about his experiences as a veteran.

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Sen. Thom Tillis (left) and Secretary Robert Wilkie (center) listen to Jeri Graham with the Military Officer’s Association of America.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_wilkie1-4.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Sen. Thom Tillis (left) and Secretary Robert Wilkie (center) listen to Jeri Graham with the Military Officer’s Association of America.

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Robert Wilkie, who grew up in Fayetteville and is the secretary of Veterans Affairs, talks with veteran Gordan Jeans (left) while at lunch at Melvins’ on Tuesday.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_Wilkie2-4.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Robert Wilkie, who grew up in Fayetteville and is the secretary of Veterans Affairs, talks with veteran Gordan Jeans (left) while at lunch at Melvins’ on Tuesday.

Emily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Sen. Thom Tillis (left) and VA Secretary Robert Wilkie (right) came to Melvins’ on Tuesday for lunch and spoke with a number of people in the community.
https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_Wilkie3-4.jpgEmily M. Williams | Bladen Journal
Sen. Thom Tillis (left) and VA Secretary Robert Wilkie (right) came to Melvins’ on Tuesday for lunch and spoke with a number of people in the community.

Emily M. Williams

Bladen Journal

Emily M. Williams can be reached at 910-247-9133 or ewilliams@bladenjournal.com.