A 21-year-old Black Navy sailor died by suicide during an extended deployment in June, and her family is now questioning whether she received enough mental health support aboard her ship.
Jaimie Bethea, a mass communication specialist from South Carolina, died June 20, about a month before the USS Fort Lauderdale returned to Norfolk, Virginia, following an 11-month deployment.
NPR reported Tuesday (September 29) that the ship’s deployment was extended multiple times, with Bethea’s family saying the prolonged time at sea worsened her mental health struggles.
“It was constantly like getting texts like, ‘Guys, you'll never fing believe it. We just got extended again,’ and I think it happened four times,” Bethea's sister Arianna Calderon told NPR. “It's just that uncertainty and promises unfulfilled.”
Bethea’s mother died from cancer three months before the deployment. Bethea spent a month on shore with her mother before returning to the ship, where she sought mental health treatment and was prescribed antidepressants by the Navy.
Within a few months of the deployment, Bethea began experiencing nightmares about her mother, according to Calderon.
. “I’m not a psychologist, but she was definitely experiencing symptoms of PTSD,” she said.
As the deployment continued, Bethea struggled to consistently get her medication, according to her longtime friend, Tiana Cook.
“She would tell me a lot about days where she would just cry when she woke up,” Cook said. “She would take a lot of naps too from just being exhausted and sad.”
During the deployment, Bethea experienced an hours-long panic attack and sought medical help aboard the ship, according to messages reviewed by NPR. She also wrote that she was surprised by how easy it was to walk away from the ship’s hospital.
NPR reported that a shipmate later told Cook and Bethea’s family that she had attempted suicide about three months into the deployment.
The USS Fort Lauderdale has about 350 sailors and no dedicated mental health provider aboard. The ship relies on a doctor and Navy corpsmen for medical care, according to NPR.
Calderon said the Navy should have intervened after the previous suicide attempt.
“There just needed to be some sort of intervention,” she told NPR. “They should have removed her from the ship.”
In a statement to NPR, the Navy offered condolences to Bethea’s family and said, “the well-being of our Sailors remains our highest priority.” The Navy said religious, medical and mental health professionals are available to support sailors as needed.
On September 2, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said the Suicide Prevention and Response Task Force, launched in February, will focus on how the Department of the Navy can better support sailors and Marines.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained volunteer Crisis Counselor through Crisis Text Line.
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