New“PA Health Professionals to End Gun Violence” Statewide Coalition Will Strengthen Expert Legislative Advocacy
The Goal: Save Lives Beyond Their Work in Healthcare Facilities
Health professionals across Pennsylvania who work tirelessly to save and care for gunshot wound patients – and who too often have to tell their loved ones that they aren’t coming home – are coming together to advocate for preventative policy change to systemically address the main driver of our Commonwealth’s gun violence epidemic: easy access to firearms. A new statewide coalition of hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals announced the beginning of its work across Pennsylvania to advocate for a public health response to this crisis. 1,800 Pennsylvanians were killed and twice as many injured by firearms last year across the Commonwealth, spanning community violence, suicides, mass shootings, domestic violence, and unintentional shootings.
“Every day, I have the privilege of caring for young lives, doing everything I can to heal their bodies and restore their futures. But there is a crisis we must address, a tragedy that is entirely preventable: the epidemic of gun injuries among children,” said Dr. Shawn Safford, a pediatric surgeon and President of the American Trauma Society – Pennsylvania Division. “We must demand change. We must implement common-sense measures that protect children from accessing firearms, ensure guns are stored safely and securely, and keep firearms out of the hands of those who should not have them.”
“A few weeks ago we had a very busy night with multiple shootings, so while I was with another patient, it was one of my residents who volunteered to meet with the family of a patient we could not save. ‘He went out to get a smoke. He was going to be right back,’ they said in shock. But he never came back,” said Dr. Elinore Kaufman, a trauma surgeon at Penn Medicine. “It doesn’t feel safe because being on-track for 1,000 shootings this year is still far, far too many. It doesn’t feel safe because it’s not safe – because our policy makers are allowing the free flow of firearms to make a trip to the corner store a fatal journey. We are doing better, but we have so far to go.”
The coalition formation follows a recent declaration by the U.S. Surgeon General and a statement by the American College of Physicians that gun violence is a public health crisis, as well as a new study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finding that state-level gun violence prevention policies would save lives. The coalition launch also comes amid a dramatic increase in violence in hospitals themselves – American healthcare workers suffer more nonfatal injuries from workplace violence than workers in any other profession, including law enforcement. Health professionals want to be safe from gun violence while doing their life-saving work, and many will never forget high-profile shooting incidents in healthcare settings, like the June 2022 attack where a gunman killed his surgeon and three other people at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, medical office because he blamed the doctor for his continuing pain after an operation.
“I love my job, partnering with parents to help kids grow into healthy adults. Parents come to me for advice about toilet training, sleep, screen time, and car seats. But also: ‘how do I help my 7-year old who is acting out and resisting managing her diabetes now that her father has been shot and killed?’ Easy access to a firearm necessitated that painful question,” said Dr. Ken Levin, a pediatrician in Pittsburgh’s South Hills. “But I can only do so much as a pediatrician when legislators refuse to close off the systemic ways that young kids get their hands on guns or the ways that people use guns too easily to kill, wound, and traumatize children.”
“I’ve been a trauma nurse since 2006. I’ve worked in all aspects of trauma. I reached a point of saturation with meeting people on the worst days of their lives. I have held a lot of patients’ hands through their worst times. I’ve held a lot of mothers in my arms as their loved ones died,” said Sunny Jackson, Injury Prevention Coordinator at Penn Medicine Trauma Center. “The patients I see are victims of preventable violence. It is not enough to care for our patients at the bedside. As a Registered Nurse, patient advocacy is part of my professional code of ethics. I will advocate for my patients wherever I have to, from the hospital, to City Hall, to Harrisburg. That’s why I’m proud to stand with this new coalition, PA Health Professionals to End Gun Violence.”
“As a surgeon, I see cases of firearm injury, and the devastation on the human body from these weapons is shocking. And the toll on friends and loved ones can be even greater. I know this from having to tell too many of them about the loss of their loved one, that they won’t have another chance to say ‘I love you.’ I want to prevent these injuries and deaths from happening. And they can be prevented.” said Dr. Bob Barraco, a trauma surgeon and member of the coalition steering committee. “Kids are finding loaded guns that should have been stored safely. Safe storage legislation can prevent these unnecessary deaths and injuries.”
“While trauma surgeons like me may be the ones who stop the bleeding when someone is shot and take care of them in the ICU as they recover from their acute injuries, the truth is that there are many health professions involved in the care of people injured by gun violence,” said Dr. Raquel Forsythe, a trauma surgeon in Pittsburgh. “PA Health Professionals to End Gun Violence aims to bring together the strength of all the voices within our health care team, who see the immediate and long term impact that gun violence has on our patients, our community and ourselves. Just as we have used a public health approach to make cars safer and reduce deaths from motor vehicle crashes, we need to use the same approach to decrease firearm injuries. We need to do more. This group aims to do just that.”
“Gun violence is a public health threat. As a practicing emergency physician and state legislator, I recognize that we must enact commonsense laws that will reduce the harm of gun violence that daily affects so many in our state and country,” said PA State Rep. Arvind Venkat, also an Emergency Physician. “We have seen at the state and federal level that such an approach can be successful in reducing this public health threat. I am committed to working with my colleagues to pass these important laws.”
“We applaud these health leaders for joining forces and raising their voices to expand their life-saving work beyond the hospital or the exam room,” said Adam Garber, Executive Director of CeaseFirePA Education Fund. “We look forward to supporting their efforts to make Pennsylvania safer for their patients and for us all by building more awareness and support for gun violence prevention policy solutions.”
The PA Health Professionals to End Gun Violence coalition includes hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals from across the Commonwealth, and is led by a steering committee comprised of the following individuals:
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- Dr. Vivek Ashok, Pediatrician & Injury Prevention Researcher, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Dr. Bob Barraco, Trauma Surgeon, Lehigh Valley Health Network
- Debbie Cannon, Registered Nurse, Quality & Safety, Pittsburgh
- Dr. Gregory English, Trauma & General Surgeon, Erie
- Dr. Raquel Forsythe, Director of Trauma, General Surgeon, Pittsburgh
- Ms. Sunny Jackson, Registered Nurse, Injury Prevention Coordinator, Penn Medicine Trauma Center
- Dr. Elinore Kaufman, Trauma Surgeon, Penn Medicine
- Dr. Peri Levey, Resident Pediatrician, Pittsburgh
- Dr. Stanton Miller, Surgeon, Emergency Physician, Exec, Dir. of the Jefferson Center for Injury Research & Prevention, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
- Mr. Ben Reynolds, PA-C, Physician Assistant, Trauma & Acute Care Surgery, Pittsburgh
- Dr. Shawn Safford, Pediatric Surgeon, Harrisburg, President of the American Trauma Society – PA Division
- Organizational Members:
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- American Trauma Society – Pennsylvania Division
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- American Academy of Pediatrics – Pennsylvania Chapter
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- Physicians for Social Responsibility – Pennsylvania
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