Hospital Emergency Room Responses
In a collaborative effort with two local hospitals, CeaseFire outreach workers are responding to gunshot and other violence-related trauma cases to intervene in conflicts and prevent further violence. Working with emergency room staff, hospital spiritual care and social workers, the CeaseFire hospital responders are reaching out to some of the people most at risk of being involved in future shootings.
Retaliations prevented
During the early pilot phase of the hospital initiative at Advocate Christ Medical Center, CeaseFire evaluation staff followed the cases of 12 victims treated in the emergency room for violent injuries from March through June 2005. In the majority of the cases, retaliations were seriously discussed.
In one case, a youth was spared re-injury by a mediation session held by a violence interrupter with the gang that was targeting him. In another incident, not only was retaliation prevented, but witnesses to the crime were also warned that they were being targeted.
In the case of a deceased patient, CeaseFire workers responded to an outraged community by coordinating a community march and vigil in memory of the youth. These activities were done in conjunction with family members who turned to involvement with CeaseFire as a constructive alternative to violence following the loss of their loved one.
Overall, it is likely that the partnership between the trauma team and CeaseFire outreach staff led to actions that spared at least four people from being violently injured or killed among these 12 cases alone.
The hospital emergency room response initiative began in January 2005 at Christ Advocate Medical Center in Oak Lawn, which was seeking ways to reduce the burden of approximately 1,600 violence-related injuries the hospital handles each year. As a result of this violence prevention partnership, funding from the hospital covers two full-time CeaseFire hospital responders. In 2006, a similar program was launched on a smaller scale at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago.
Both hospitals receive many of their gunshot cases from communities where CeaseFire has been operating on the South and West sides of Chicago. The vast majority of the victims are African-American males between the ages of 16 and 35.
After being admitted into the hospital for a violent injury, patients are screened by hospital staff and may be referred to the CeaseFire Hospital Response team. The Hospital Responders come from the ranks of CeaseFire violence interrupters and outreach workers, street-savvy individuals – many of them ex-offenders – who have strong ties in their communities and the ability to connect with the high-risk population. The Hospital Responders are able to leverage their network of contacts and close working relationships with CeaseFire Violence Interrupters to mediate conflicts and squash retaliations.
Reaching those most at risk
Patients with violence-related injuries may not simply be innocent victims, but in many cases are also potential perpetrators of violence or involved with others who may retaliate on their behalf. Immediate intervention to help reduce risk factors associated with a shooting is necessary to prevent future injury to the patient as well as to others.
Part of the thinking behind the hospital response initiative is that approaching high-risk youth in the hospital may come at a time when they are willing to reflect on the consequences of retaliation and the cycle of violence they have been caught up in, and be receptive to an offer of assistance to help change their behaviors.
More than 700 victim responses
From the inception of the program at Advocate Christ Medical Center through September 2007, CeaseFire hospital responders worked directly with 731 victims and families. These responses included:
• 640 gunshot victims,
• 55 stab wound victims, and
• 30 blunt trauma victims.
The responders provided much needed support to victims and their families, including education and job placement assistance after the patient recovered, as well linking them with other social support services.
The CeaseFire Hospital Initiative has begun to examine the long-term effects of this intervention on the problem of violence and killings, including recidivism rates and impact on individual victim's lives.
