August 16, 2018

Hello,
As we send our children back to the classrooms with their new backpacks and school supplies, we can’t help but be concerned about their safety at the start of a new school year. Gun violence is a stark reality that we as parents, physicians, and a community are forced to confront on a too-frequent basis. The children of Santa Fe High know this all too well, and as healthcare professionals, we must be prepared to care for patients facing the risks of gun violence.
Gun violence is a public health crisis that claims over 30,000 lives annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides, and that gun-related homicides have increased substantially in recent years (over 30 percent from 2010 to 2016). Gun violence results in an annual cost of about $8.6 billion; the human costs are unimaginable. Two recent reports on the subject include the Texas Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Securityinterim reportandrecommendationsfrom Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Commission Against Gun Violence.
To prepare and protect our McGovern Medical School, the UT Police Department offers active shooter training designed for the healthcare environment, both in class and in a live drill setting. Our police department has offered to speak with any department or unit. TheStop the Bleed当然,旨在减少发病率和死亡率in the unfortunate situation of acute bleeding, is offered to students and staff. “Stop the Bleed” kits are kept next to all AEDs in the medical school. Hands-on drills are the best way for individuals to feel more comfortable that they could save a life in the event of a tragic event, such as an active shooter.
In addition, our medical school is one of just two in the nation offering a course on gun violence to students. The blue-book elective “Gun Violence and Physicians: What you need to know” was developed by a team of faculty and medical students led by Dr. Sandy McKay, assistant professor of pediatrics; Michael Bagg, MS2; Marina Ibraheim, MS2; and Rebecca Lunstroth, JD, MA, associate director of the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics and assistant professor of family and community medicine; in order to address the knowledge gap between gun violence prevention and the role of the physician in a non-partisan atmosphere. The goals of the course are to understand: the large-scale extent of the problem; the mental-health impact on both the patient and the physician; how to evaluate the risk of a patient; what happens when a bullet hits the body; and how to effectively and appropriately use your voice as a physician and public advocate.
It is not our intent to delve into the politics of gun ownership and gun rights, but rather to focus on our responsibility to educate future healthcare professionals about a public health concern that they will encounter during their medical careers. Physicians and other healthcare professionals need skills to identify patients at risk and to discuss gun violence prevention and firearm safety in an empathetic, non-partisan manner. Our priorities are patient care and safety, as well as the safety of our students and staff. As much as we hope that nothing will ever happen on our campus, it is prudent to be prepared.
Warm regards,
Barbara