It’s 3,000 miles from this Washington to the other one, but the reality gulf often seems even greater.

In the nation’s capital this week, the head of mental health for the Department of Veterans Affairs faces calls for his resignation over his part in efforts to downplay suicide as a measure of the emotional burden carried by many American veterans of current and past wars.

In Spokane – and other American communities with VA medical centers – sincere health care professionals are working to implement VA’s stepped-up efforts to find and care for vets who might have suicide on their minds.

Dr. Ira Katz and others in the top VA echelons deserve the scolding they got for concealing the severity of the problem. But while the skirmish for political advantage goes on, real people struggle in real hometowns to get real lives back on track.

Among the challenges is winning the trust of vets who aren’t convinced that the agency is in their corner. It doesn’t reassure them when inadvertently revealed e-mail messages contradict official denials about the dire level of suicide attempts.

Meanwhile, front-line service providers such as Kurt Rossbach, suicide prevention counselor at the Spokane VA center, face one more hurdle in their attempts to find and help emotionally troubled vets, especially those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

As part of a concerted VA strategy for dealing with the issue, Rossbach undertook specialized training in New York last summer. He tracks suicides and suicide attempts by veterans across most of Eastern Washington, North Idaho and a portion of Western Montana. He maintains contact with discharged vets as they navigate the risky transition from in-patient to out-patient care. He trains the Spokane medical center staff how to recognize trouble signs, and he’s the contact person when they do. He’s also the repository for reports from veterans, family members, law enforcement officials and others in the community.

Through all that he must try to overcome the reluctance many military personnel have to seek emotional help that they fear may imperil their careers or create a stigma in their personal lives.

The job of a suicide prevention counselor is demanding enough without top agency brass glossing over uncomfortable realities to avoid political embarrassment. If the goal is to help veterans, agencies function best when they let the truth be told.