An important step in addressing the growing crisis of suicide by firearm among active-duty military servicemembers involves asking not only why these deaths are happening, but how.

This week, a national summit hosted by the CU Anschutz Center for Combat Medicine and Battlefield (COMBAT) Research and the CU Anschutz Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative brought together military and civilian stakeholders from around the United States in person to the CU Anschutz Campus to share research, strategies, and messaging for addressing and preventing firearm suicide in the military.

“We need to figure out not just policy, but training and research,” said Vik Bebarta, MD, director of the CU Anschutz Center for COMBAT Research and a professor of emergency medicine in the CU School of Medicine. “We need to be looking at larger strategies across all the services and how we can unify the language that we’re using and bring solutions to the servicemembers, their families, and our civilian communities.”

Summit organizer and moderator Emmy Betz, MD, MPH, director of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative and a professor of emergency medicine in the CU School of Medicine, said talking about firearm safety "is a core part of suicide prevention and having a whole day to really tackle this issue is so important."

Read the full story by Rachel Sauer on CU Anschutz News >>>