VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Nothing worked for Matt Erisman of Virginia Beach until he found the drug Spravato for his suicidal depression. He takes it weekly. He says it’s time for the Department of Veterans Affairs to make it more affordable so that it can help more veterans like him.
“I’m experiencing the change now that I’ve been after for years,” Erisman said in a Friday morning interview. He’s one of the lucky ones.
20 years in the Navy, Erisman was working on an electrical panel when it exploded. The metal cover smashed into his head and gave him a traumatic brain injury and the resulting depression had him thinking about harming his wife and how he could end his life.
Through treatment at Chesapeake Psychological Associates , he found the drug Spravato for his suicidal depression. But it’s not on the VA’s list of fully covered medications, and Erisman pays as much as $200 a month for it.
“You’re telling me that 22 veterans a day who are committing suicide is too much – and you have access to a drug that can prevent that,” he said, and some estimates put the actual number at double that. “Why in the world would the VA not offer that to veterans?”