Tampa General adds veterans' mental health care, with a $750,000 VA grant for suicide prevention
No-cost behavioral health care opens Nov. 16 at TGH's military and veterans primary care center on South Lois Avenue.
TAMPA - Tampa General Hospital is adding mental health services for veterans, active-duty service members and military families, including a program funded by a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the hospital said in a Nov. 11 release.
Starting Nov. 16, behavioral health care will be offered inside the Tampa General Medical Group Military & Veteran Primary Care Center, 2106 S. Lois Ave., in partnership with Home Base, a national nonprofit founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation, and USF Health. The hospital lists evaluations, individual therapy for adults and children, treatment plans and family support.
Those services are open to veterans, active-duty members, National Guard and Reserve members and their families regardless of discharge status or ability to pay, and through Home Base they are provided at no cost, according to TGH. Telehealth is offered throughout Florida.
The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital, 1303 W. Kennedy Blvd., also launched a program called Help for Heroes on Oct. 19. It offers inpatient, partial hospitalization and outpatient treatment for military members, veterans, first responders and health care workers.
The VA grant, from the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, pays for Project Link, which aims to reach about 150 veterans a year at risk of suicide across Hillsborough County. Three veteran peer navigators will screen for risk, coordinate care and help with VA benefits and needs such as housing and transportation, with follow-up over an initial 90-day period, the hospital said.
"We're helping more veterans find the resources they need to improve their health," said Doug Leonardo, CEO of the TGH Behavioral Health Hospital.
TGH lists (813) 844-4200 for the primary care center program and 813-893-6330 for Help for Heroes. Veterans in crisis can call 988 and press 1.