MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 22 veterans die by suicide every day, with more than 500 of those deaths occurring annually in Florida.

To reduce that number, the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs (FDVA) started a free veteran’s suicide prevention program, partnering with a nonprofit called “The Fire Watch.”

They work to train county officials about what signs to look for when a person is struggling and might need help. Manatee County is adopting this initiative.

Lee DePalo, Manatee County Director of Community & Veteran Services, says they have trained more than 100 team members.

“We want to do all the different things that we can to support veterans. This is one component. Certainly, it’s a crisis that we want to help reduce the number of veteran suicides. And we want to empower veterans in different ways, whether it’s via jobs, whether it’s via programming that we bring into the area. We want to continue to be the most veteran-friendly county out there," he said.

Greg Para is a veteran and uses avian therapy to help himself and others. 

He says this support helped him overcome his PTSD and suicidal thoughts after returning home from serving in Afghanistan in 2011. Since then, he’s operated the Sarasota Parrot Conservatory in Myakka, helping veterans overcome trauma through avian therapy. He’s also worked directly with veterans for 10 years as a veterans coordinator in the court system.

“I know the signs. I’ve worked with suicidal vets,” he said.

Manatee County has the same mission — to help reduce the suicide rate in veterans by training county staff to be what’s called a “watch stander.” A series of videos by The Fire Watch are used to teach people how to spot the signs of crisis in veterans, then take action, such as calling 911 or providing information about resources in the community.

Para has questions about the program and some suggestions.

“They have been trained to recognize behavior, supposedly, whatever that training occurs. And they’ve also been given resources to provide to a veteran. So if they could, put it so that there was a free component for mental health and there were rides and there was a free component to the medication, then that would be a big service,” he said.

Other veterans, like Dan Creek, who served in the Gulf War, are hopeful about the program. He says any kind of awareness will help.

“I think that the program, if it gives you a few hours of information on what to look for in a person and then some direction on where you can guide someone to, I think that’s key,” he said.

Several years ago, he had a 25-year reunion with his Marine unit. Shortly afterwards, a friend he served with committed suicide.

“It was devastating. It really shook the unit quite a bit to know that one of our own, you know, that we were engaged with, that he passed away. So what signs did we miss? What did we overlook? What didn’t we see?” Creek said.

Those are some of the things the training program focuses on. And with about 40,000 veterans calling Manatee County home, they’re hoping enacting this in the county will lead to early intervention and potentially save lives.

In another effort to help veterans, Manatee County just announced there will be a free veterans entrepreneurship program that starts in February for veterans who want to start a business.