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Nevada Veterans Have Higher Suicide Rates Than Rest Of Country

Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images

U.S. soldiers stand at a checkpoint around Lakokhel camp in Afghanistan in 2010.

A new report says veterans in Nevada commit suicide at a higher rate than veterans in other states.

Significantly higher. Nevada’s 46 deaths per 100,000 veterans is 74 percent higher than the national average of 12 deaths per 100,000.

So, why do so many more Nevada veterans resort to what some call “a long-term solution to a short-term problem?”

In 2012 the Nevada Health Division released a study looking at veteran suicide for the first time. In 2015, they found that while the suicide rate for female veterans has gone down, the rate for male veterans has risen so much that the overall numbers stay the same.

Luana Ritch, Quality Assurance Specialist III Mental Health Clinical Services Administration, Division of Public and Behavioral Health;  Misty Vaughan Allen, State Suicide Prevention Coordinator;  Richard Carreon, Concerned Veterans for America

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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Carrie Kaufman no longer works for KNPR News. She left in April 2018)