CSU Team Interviews All 58 California Counties to Clarify Veteran Suicide Reporting
A three-year research project led by California State University, Long Beach, in partnership with the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet), has completed in-depth interviews with coroner and medical examiner offices in all 58 California counties. The team found that counties identify veteran status and record causes of death in different ways, leaving veteran suicide figures unreliable, and is now working toward more consistent reporting.,The project, the Comprehensive Investigation into Veteran Suicide: Identification and Reporting, launched in 2025 and is housed in the California Veterans Health Initiative-Research and Surveillance Team. CalVet funds it with more than $4.99 million. Principal investigator Jeremy Ramirez is a CSULB assistant professor of health informatics; Gino Galvez is co-principal investigator, and UC Berkeley researchers are partners. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 6,488 veterans died by suicide nationwide in 2024.,Ramirez said all 58 counties track veteran mortalities, but each does it in a slightly different way, and the team is working to understand how those differences tie together at the state level. The interviews also explored how county offices work with local Tribal Nations and respect burial rituals, processes that vary widely.,The inconsistency has consequences for families: when a person's veteran status goes unidentified after death, they may miss honors such as burial with an American flag or in a veterans cemetery, and surviving family members may miss benefits and services they are eligible for. CalVet Deputy Secretary of Veterans Services Roberto Herrera said the partnership positions California as a national leader in accurate, comprehensive and actionable reporting on veteran suicides.,The team's next phase involves follow-up surveys and analysis, ahead of presenting final findings and recommendations to the project's advisory board. In 2027, the project will move from county practices to the state's systems as a whole, and compare California's approach with those of Oregon, Arizona, Nevada and New York. Lilia Brack, a third-year CSULB biology student on the project, has presented findings on mortuary and funeral home perspectives at campus research symposia.
Source: California State University
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加州州立大学长滩分校 Walter Pyramid。Summum 摄，CC BY-SA 2.5，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Walter Pyramid at California State University, Long Beach. By Summum, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
