Unloading: Community Solutions for Gun Violence

Dr. Barnhorst is the Vice Chair for Community Mental Health in the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry, an Associate Director of the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis, a Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, and the Director of the BulletPoints Project, a state-funded effort to develop a firearm violence prevention curriculum for healthcare providers. Her academic work focuses on the interface between firearms, violence, suicide and the mental health system, and she has testified before the California and Alaska Senates on these issues. Resource mentioned in podcast: https://www.bulletpointsproject.org/ Dr. Stegall is a Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellow at the Eastern Virginia Medical School with an interest in advocacy and injury prevention. She has participated in many efforts to end gun violence and has published several academic papers on the topic. In a resident-driven quality improvement project, she helped implement Be SMART education for pediatric residents that improved firearm access screening rates in the pediatric ED setting. She continues to do similar work in fellowship with implementing standardized lethal means counseling amongst the ED, inpatient psychiatry, and trauma departments which includes screening for access to firearms. Dr. Hargarten is a Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Medical College of Wisconsin where he served as Chair for over 20 years. He is also the Founding Director of the Comprehensive Injury Center and the Founding Dean for Global Health. His research interests reflect an intersection of injury and violence prevention and health policy to address the burden of this biopsychosocial disease. His work in linking data systems for understanding violent deaths informed the development of the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System. He was the founding President of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research and has served on the Violence and Injury Prevention Mentoring Committee for the World Health Organization. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.Dr. Betz is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where she is also the Founding Director of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative and Deputy Director of the Injury and Violence Prevention Center. She is a founding member of the Colorado Firearm Safety Coalition. She also oversees a multi-million dollar research portfolio funded by the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense, focusing on ED provider attitudes towards lethal means restriction for suicide prevention, suicidality among older adults, public opinion about firearm safety discussions, and strategies for enhancing provider-patient communication about sensitive topics.

Kat is a 1st year medical student at Rush Chicago. She previously worked with AMWA Gun Violence Solutions (GVS) Committee before starting medical school, and is one of the founding creators of Unloading, the AMWA GVS podcast. Claire is a 3rd year medical student at University of Colorado. She was recently awarded the 2024 University of Colorado Public Health Injury and Violence Prevention grant to support her firearm injury prevention research, which is looking at how social determinants of healthcare impacting the follow-up care received by patients who have sustained firearm injuries. Susan is a 3rd year medical student at University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine. Susan served as the 2023 Student Medical Chair of the AMWA Gun Violence Solutions Committee and has been involved with Moms Demand Action, advocating for public health measures to protect folks from gun violence. Dhruva is a 3rd year medical student at Wayne School of Medicine. He first became interested in firearm injury and prevention when noting the difference in discussions regarding firearms between India and the United States. Sarah is a 3rd year medical student at St. George University. She has been involved with the AMWA Gun Violence Solutions Committee since Fall 2023.

Ms Miller, MA, LPCC is the Director of the Phoenix Center at Auraria. She is an award-winning activist and educator, with extensive experience in advocacy for survivors of interpersonal violence and human trafficking. In addition to serving as the Director for the PCA, Katherine also teaches undergraduate students at MSU Denver and the Community College Online System in both the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and the Psychology departments, and teaches graduate courses for the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver.

Dr. Evans, MD, MPH is an obstetrician and gynecologist Tufts Medical Center in Boston and Associate Professor at the School of Medicine. She has a Master in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health. Her strong passion in advocacy and health policy has led her to write an advocacy column for OBG Management and she is co-founder of The O+G Advocates podcast, focusing on topics related to health policy and advocacy. She has held several leadership positions including national president of Medical Students for Choice and board member of Physicians for Reproductive Health Board of Directors. She also holds leadership positions in The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), currently the Secretary/Treasurer of ACOG Massachusetts section. She served as the ACOG’s Junior Fellow Congress Advisory Council Chair from 2015-2016, representing over 10,000 ACOG Junior Fellow members.

Dr. Freeman is a Pediatrician in Buffalo NY and Clinical Assistant Professor at Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. She serves as the local Everytown for Gun Safety Be SMART campaign lead and Wear Orange lead, and has been leading the charge on adding novel curriculum at her institution focused on teaching gun violence prevention with the hope of increasing awareness of this rising issue amongst undergraduate students, graduate students, and other departments.Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:Academy of Pediatric Gun Safety Tips (https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/campaigns-and-toolkits/gun-safety/)American Academy of Pediatrics. Gun Safety Physician. Firearm-Related Injuries and Deaths in Children and Youth: Injury Prevention and Harm Reduction. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2022-060070 Journal: Pediatrics Article Type: AAP Policy Statement. (https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/150/6/e2022060070/189686/Firearm-Related-Injuries-and-Deaths-in-Children)Beseler C, Mitchell KJ, Jones LM, Turner HA, Hamby S, Wade R Jr. The Youth Firearm Risk and Safety Tool (Youth-FiRST): Psychometrics and Validation of a Gun Attitudes and Violence Exposure Assessment Tool. Violence Vict. 2020 Oct 1;35(5):635-655. doi: 10.1891/VV-D-19-00085. PMID: 33060248. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33060248/Stand Safe Modules (https://www.standsafe.org/education)Be Smart besmartforkids.org

Dr. Frattaroli, PhD, is a prominent researcher and faculty member at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and Director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Frattaroli has dedicated her career to exploring critical areas such as firearm injury and prevention policies, and her research has had a profound impact on both academic discourse and practical applications. She has won numerous awards including the SOURCE Award in Excellence in Teaching and Service-Learning Fellowship and the Sommer Klag Advocacy Achievement Award for her work in advocating for ERPO laws. She has written numerous articles and chapters regarding her research examining the role of policy in improving the health of populations. It is no surprise that Dr. Frattaroli has been at the forefront of initiatives aimed at reducing injury rates, shaping health policy, and improving community health outcomes. Frattaroli S, Hoops K, Irvin NA, McCourt A, Nestadt PS, Omaki E, Shields WC, Wilcox HC. Assessment of Physician Self-reported Knowledge and Use of Maryland's Extreme Risk Protection Order Law. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Dec 2;2(12):e1918037. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.18037. PMID: 31860108; PMCID: PMC6991220.

Dr. Green, MD FAAEM, an emergency physician in Nashville, TN. She graduated from Michigan State University with a BS in Chemical Engineering in 2003, received her MD from Wayne State University in 2008, and completed her emergency medicine residency at Indiana University in 2011. She has been a member of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine since residency and served as an at-large board member of the Tennessee Chapter of AAEM from 2021-23. She is an active member of the Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) and the Nashville chapter, the Nashville Academy of Medicine. Through the TMA, Dr. Green advocates for healthcare related legislation at the Tennessee state legislature, participating in Doctor of the Day and Doctor’s Day on the Hill. She serves as a board member of Gideon’s Army, a nonprofit organization working to reduce gun violence in Nashville. Dr. Green is the current chair of the AMWA advocacy committee. She is also active with the gun violence solutions committee. Locally, she is on the leadership team of the East Nashtivists, a grassroots organization and action council through Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, advocating for reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights and bodily autonomy through voter registration, engagement and turnout efforts in her community.

We meet with Curtis and Jason from Chicago CRED (Creating Real Economic Destiny). is an anti-gun violence organization co-founded in 2016 by Arne Duncan, a former U.S. Secretary of Education and CEO of Chicago Public Schools, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the founder and president of Emerson Collective, a Palo Alto-based social impact organization.” Chicago CRED believes in investing in the community, more specifically investing in the people within the community to reduce the homicide rates. Their goal is to reduce gun violence by 20% annually for the next 5 years.To learn more about Chicago CRED, visit chicacocred.org.

DeAndra is a volunteer with the Indiana chapter of Moms Demand Action and a Senior Fellow with the Everytown Survivor Network. On February 1, 2014, DeAndra's 13-year-old son, DeAndre (Dre), was struck by a stray bullet at a birthday party. Dre survived, but was critically wounded and can no longer walk or talk. Since Dre was shot, DeAndra has become a dedicated activist with a focus on raising awareness for wounded/disabled victims of gun violence and the struggles they face. DeAndra now oversees a new advocacy and support program for non-fatal shooting survivors for the City of Indianapolis. Funded by the American Rescue Plan, the program is operated in partnership between DeAndra, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, IUPUI's O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the Indianapolis Office of Public Health and Safety. DeAndra is also the Founder and Executive Director of Purpose 4 My Pain, a resource hub providing support for women and families personally affected by gun violence. For resources for non-fatal shooting victims in Indianapolis, visit indynfsresources.com. To learn more about Deandra’s organization, Purpose4MyPain, you can visit purpose4mypain.org

Dr. Kelsey Gastineau, M.D. (she/her) is a Moms Demand Action volunteer and board-certified pediatrician based in Nashville, TN. A public health researcher, Dr. Gastineau is also a physician advocate specializing in pediatric injury prevention. One of her focuses is on safe firearm storage as a Be SMART program advocate, a framework designed to help parents and adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions to prevent child gun deaths and injuries. Her research experience and interests include implementation of evidence-based, community-focused interventions and secondary data base analysis to reduce firearm injuries in youth. Her recent publications on this topic include utilizing the Be SMART program -- along with quality improvement methodologies -- to improve firearm safety discussions in a resident-based clinic in South Carolina, evaluating the increase in pediatric firearm-related hospital encounters during the COVID-19 pandemic, and demonstrating the increasing burden of pediatric mortality and widening racial inequities due to firearm violence. She is a member of the Tennessee American Academy of Pediatrics.Julvonnia McDowell (she/her) is a volunteer with the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action. Julvonnia's 14-year-old son, JaJuan, was unintentionally shot and killed by another teen playing with an unsecured gun on April 7, 2016 while visiting family in Savannah, GA for spring break. Julvonnia joined Moms Demand Action shortly after JaJuan’s death. As a leader in the survivor community, she is a dedicated mentor and support system for survivors and encourages a robust foundation of strength. One of her focuses is on safe gun storage as a Be SMART program advocate, a framework designed to help parents and adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions to prevent child gun deaths and injuries.To learn more about the BeSmart framework and ways to promote responsible gun ownership in your community, you can visit besmartforkids.org.

Po lived next door to Adam Lanza and his family and knows intimately about the pain caused by the Sandy Hook shooting. She and other community members gathered briefly after the shooting to form the “Sandy Hook Promise.” with the mission to prevent tragedies from happening to other communities through advocacy and programs that teach youth and adults how to prevent violence and shootings. Po branched out to create the Newton Action Alliance, a volunteer grassroots organization that advocates for life-saving gun violence prevention policies. Po has been honored for Women's History Month by the Brady Campaign for her dedication to gun violence prevention and is leading the campaign urging Congress to pass the Protect Our Kids Act. Her organization produced the video: "Is this normal?" that was released around the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting.To learn more about the Newtown Action Alliance and ways in which you can help advocate for legislative and cultural change, visit newtownactionalliance.org.

Ashley (she/her) is a junior at Hollywood High School in California, where she is a leader with Students Demand Action. Ashley first joined Students Demand Action as a participant in the 2021 South Central Los Angeles Summer Leadership Academy. Ashley’s community is heavily impacted by gun violence and she has endured numerous active shooter threats and drills throughout her schooling years, including coming face-to-face with a shooter when she was in elementary school. In December 2021, a bus carrying students home from Hollywood High School was hit by bullets.Mia (she/her) is an eighteen year-old wounded survivor of the 2019 ghost gun mass shooting at Saugus High School. She is a passionate gun violence prevention advocate with Students Demand Action and other organizations. Mia is looking forward to applying to colleges this fall and finishing out her senior year at Saugus High School. She’s hoping to major in Psychology and work with other victims of violent crime, research ways to bridge the gap between community, law, and mental health, and use her personal experience of getting shot and losing her best friend in the shooting to help stop other senseless acts of gun violence.To learn more about or get involved with Students Demand Action, you can visit studentsdemandaction.org.

Kat and Minorvi talk to Dr. Dennis Kuo, a pediatrician in Buffalo, NY who treats kids with disabilities and chronic conditions, including those impacted by gun violence. Dr. Kuo discusses how he talks to children and parents about firearms, the role of physicians in addressing the firearm death epidemic, and the importance of building community partnerships.

Kat and Minorvi interview Dr. Christine Castater, a trauma surgeon in Georgia who has been working to address the PTSD epidemic among physicians. She discusses second victim syndrome, PTSD in those responding to gun shot wounds, and her novel investigation of the screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) intervention in trauma patients.

Kat and Minorvi talk to Adara Combs, a native Philadelphian and former prosecutor who was recently appointed to lead the Office of the Victim Advocate in Philadelphia, PA. The Office will be the first in the city and serve to champion the needs of crime victims. Adara Combs discusses the gun violence epidemic in Philadelphia and how this newly created Office seeks to respond to it.

Kat and Minorvi interview Lara Drino, a Los Angelos deputy city attorney who also leads the Children Exposed to Violence Initiative and the REACH Team in South LA. The REACH Team supports children and their families in the aftermath of gun violence. Lara discusses the use of organizational interventions, long-term mental health services, and community safety partnerships in the quest to diminish gun violence and its lasting effects for the next generation of LA youth.