VA suicide hotline in Oscar-winning documentary lets calls go to voicemail

I have experience calling the hotline...I got ZERO help...the knucklehead that took my call was not paying attention to me. he repeatedly asked asinine questions that had nothing to do with why I was calling. He also made me repeat myself numerous times, because he clearly wasn't paying attention..i was clear, I was precise, he just wasn't listening in my time of desperation...I'm not sure if that was a tactic of his, if so, it sucked, because, eventually he made me so mad that I was no longer wanting to hurt myself, I honestly wanted to hurt him. I ended conversing with him by trying to hang up on him, but I couldn't. I'm not certain if their phone lines don't allow callers to hang up during unresolved calls, but I couldn't end the call...I literally had to remove the battery from my cellphone in order to end the call...to this day, that phone conversation still bothers me...it was such a traumatic experience for me and his lack of basic human listening skills escalated my anxiety through the roof...even now as I type this comment I'm feeling a bit anxious... :(

Thanks Capt Brandon Charters for sharing the article on VA- suicide hotlines going to backup. I tend to have quick responses when I call the VA medical treatment centers which provide service for me. Calling the VBA on the other hand tends to go to voicemail.
I hope the next POTUS administration and Congress will do what it takes to get the VA priorities in line with reality. Below is the text for anybody who couldn't see it.
"A VA suicide hotline movingly portrayed in an Oscar-winning documentary has allowed crisis calls to go into voicemail and has struggled with adequate staff training, according to an inspector general investigation.
Inspectors found problems occurred when calls were routed to backup crisis centers after staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs suicide hotline center in Canandaigua, N.Y., [login to see] FREE) were taking all the calls they could handle.
"We substantiated allegations that some calls routed to backup crisis centers were answered by voicemail, and callers did not always receive immediate assistance," said the VA Inspector General report made public late last week.
The VA, which has highlighted veteran suicides as a crucial area of concern, said that since the hotline was created in 2007, about 2 million calls have been answered and emergency efforts made to intervene and save lives in more than 53,000 cases.
An HBO documentary highlighting the life-and-death drama of the VA suicide hotline efforts won an Oscar last year."