Gun violence kills more children and teens than cancer, pneumonia, asthma, HIV/AIDS and opioids combined. Every day we lose 65 Americans to suicide by firearm. Many American cities are afflicted with high rates of gun homicides, and every 16 hours a woman is shot and killed by an intimate partner – to say nothing of hundreds of accidental shooting deaths per year, almost all of which are easily preventable. Mass shootings have become almost routine. This is the terrible toll that defines a public health crisis caused by gun violence.
This crisis will be addressed Oct. 25 by a panel of experts focused on causes and measures to reduce the crisis: Dr. Eric Goldman, ER/Trauma Room physician; Dawn Wadsworth, School Psychologist, Allen High School; Shelley Keffer, Coordinator of Student Services, Catasauqua School District; Dr. Sirri Alang, Lehigh University, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Health, Medicine and Society; Dr. Hasshan Batts, Director of Lehigh Valley Promise Neighborhoods; and Margaret Murphy, Executive Director of National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Lehigh Valley. In addition, Evelyn Kuserk will share the results of her research on public health crises that, when addressed as such, result in positive outcomes.
The program will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lehigh Valley, 424 Center Street, Bethlehem, 7pm. This Fourth Friday Film & Speaker Series is open to the public, free of charge. Contact Fritz Walker at (610) 442-5104.
