What if we counted the saves?

Published about 1 year ago • 1 min read

September 5, 2025

Friends,

I’ve been sitting with this thought, and I finally wrote it down.

What if suicide prevention wasn’t measured in funerals?

What if, instead of repeating 22 veterans die a day, we actually knew how many survived?

What if every hospitalization, every 988 call, every rope or pill a caregiver hid was counted as the prevention it really was?

My veteran has survived nine suicide-related hospitalizations since 2014. Each one was a save. But none of them exist in America’s official data.

That’s the unfinished promise of suicide prevention: the system counts the dead, but it erases the saved.

I wrote about it here: https://betsyeves.org/unfinished-promise-of-suicide-prevention/

It’s heavy, but I think it matters. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

With gratitude,
Betsy

Betsy Eves Group
3172 Rock Island Road, Scottsville, VA 24590
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