New Veterans Crisis Line Opens in Topeka

On May 25, 2018 VA held a ribbon cutting for the Department’s third Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) in Topeka, Kansas at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center, signifying how VA is improving its service with this newest call center for Veterans, service members, and their families.

Currently, more than 500 qualified staff spread across three centers respond to calls from Veterans and their loved ones, directing callers to the care they need. Since VA launched the VCL in 2007, crisis line responders have:

• Answered over 3.5 million calls
• Initiated the dispatch of emergency services to callers in imminent crisis
• nearly 93,000 times
• Engaged over 397,000 requests for chat services
• Answered nearly 92,000 requests for text services

VCL is essential to providing immediate care to Veterans in crisis, and the institutionalization or expansion of new capabilities is key to this life-saving mission.