Thread by @AliAdair22

Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN) stands up for veterans. He is passionate about several issues, but helping veterans is definitely a priority.

#vetsresist
#supportourtroops
#resist
#Vets

🎖️Just one small example: when he stood up on the Senate floor and made this speech about Vietnam veterans and how they should have all the same benefits as vets from other wars.

💗Donnelly's very first bill—the bipartisan Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act—was a labor of love. Jacob was from Indiana and a National Guard member who tragically took his own life in 2009.

washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoin…

Jacob killed himself while on a break from a deployment from Afghanistan. Jacob’s father, Jeff, decided to approach Joe Donnelly after seeing him question Chuck Hagel on the subject of military suicide.

defenseone.com/politics/2014/…

📜Mr. & Mrs. Sexton worked with Joe Donnelly to address the issue of military suicide and came up with this bill, which is now a law.

The Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act

joeforindiana.com/issues/veteran…

🎖️The Jacob Sexton Act of 2014 was passed in December 2014 as part of the military budget and as of last September, every service member—active, guard and reserve—receives a mandatory mental health assessment every year so they can be identified.

🎖️Donnelly also focused on a trio of bipartisan bills called “Service Member & Veteran Care Package” which were all added to the FY 2016 defense budget

The Jacob Sexton Act got servicemen evaluations, but this trio takes care of the next part—getting care for those who need it

▶️The Military and Veterans’ Mental Health Care Provider Assessment Act which “directs the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that all health care providers under their respective jurisdictions receive, (cont'd)

🎖️The Military and Veterans’ Mental Health Care Provider Assessment Act (cont'd): ...at least once every three years, empirically supported training on the recognition and assessment of individuals at risk for suicide and the management of such risk.”

#vetsresist
#resist
#Vets

▶️Joe Donnelly also cosponsored the 2nd part of the trio: The Community Provider Readiness Recognition Act which "Directs the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to jointly develop a system by which a non-Department mental health care provider who provides...(con't)

🎖️Community Provider Readiness Recognition Act (cont'd)...health care to members of the Armed Forces or veterans shall receive a mental health provider readiness designation if such provider meets eligibility criteria relating to: (1) knowledge, comfort, & understanding...

🎖️Community Provider Readiness Recognition Act (cont'd)...with respect to the culture of members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and family members and caregivers of such members and veterans; and (2) knowledge regarding evidence-based treatments that have been approved by...

🎖️Community Provider Readiness Recognition Act (cont'd)...such Departments for the treatment of mental health issues among such members and veterans."

#vetsresist
#supportourtroops
#resist
#Vets

▶️Last part of the trio cosponsored by Joe Donnelly: The Frontline Mental Health Provider Training Act: "Directs the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that all health care providers under their respective jurisdictions receive, at least...

🎖️The Frontline Mental Health Provider Training Act (cont'd): ...once every three years, empirically supported training on the recognition and assessment of individuals at risk for suicide and the management of such risk."

#vetsresist
#supportourtroops
#resist
#Vets

☑️Joe Donnelly worked with the Veteran’s Administration for 8 years to open a new health care center in 2015 in St. Joseph County, Indiana that is more accessible for veterans who live in North Central Indiana and the Michiana region.

Joe Donnelly was also a cosponsor of the VA MISSION Act of 2018: "To establish a permanent community care program for veterans, to improve the recruitment of health care providers of the Dept of Veterans Affairs, to improve construction by the Department, & for other purposes."

▶️Joe Donnelly was a cosponsor of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017, mandating that the VA develop criteria to promote supervisory protection of whistle-blowers and provide supervisors with related training.

#vetsresist

▶️Just this past June, Joe Donnelly asked the Veterans Administration to investigate a new Kokomo Clinic "after local veterans expressed concerns about access to care and problems scheduling appointments," a hot-button issue."

kokomotribune.com/news/sen-donne…

⚡️Joe Donnelly also always votes for action items that are solving the problems with long wait times for veterans to receive their healthcare.

As per his speech on the Senate floor: “We Must Deliver on our Promise to Care for All Veterans Long After Their Last Day in Uniform.”

#EyesOnThePrize

#FlipTheSenate

#FlipTheHouse

#vetsresist
#supportourtroops
#resist
#Vets

Let's go #Indiana!

You can do this!!

#FlipItBlue2018
#FlipItBluer2020

#BlueWave2018
#BluerWave2020

🔗Re-linking thread:

https://twitter.com/AliAdair22/status/1028370659192307712

⚡️Veterans Crisis Line

🗣️1-800-273-8255 Press 1

⌨️Confidential chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net or text 838255