In the finale of our three-part series, we hear from professionals who help those affected by gun violence find recovery beyond the hospital bed.

Getting stitched up is just one part of a gunshot wound patient’s recovery. People face a long line of stressors after getting out of surgery.

That’s where Harborview Medical Center’s Violence Intervention and Prevention Program comes in, to ease the burden on patients as they figure out things like transportation to follow-up appointments, help with paying medical bills and access to trauma therapy.

In our third and final episode of First Response, we hear from Paul Carter III and Tarrell Harrison Jr., two violence intervention and prevention specialists who work closely with Harborview patients after they’ve been shot, about what their work looks like on the ground. We’ll also hear from Mark Rivers of Community Passageways, one of the organizations that Harborview connects patients with as they get close to leaving the hospital.

Together these three highlight the community-wide effort to help patients and families navigate the hardship and trauma of gun violence. The hope is that these efforts can prevent people from returning to the circumstances that brought them to Harborview in the first place.

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Credits

Host/Producer: Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed

Reporters: : Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed

Story editor: Ryan Famuliner

Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

In the second episode of our three-part series, we look at Harborview Medical Center's initiative to treat the long-term impacts of gunshot wounds.

There’s been a shift in how medical professionals think about gun violence: Many of them aren’t focused only on making sure a patient lives after being shot ... they’re also thinking about how to help these individuals recover and rebuild beyond the operating table.

This trend of looking at gun violence as a public health issue has taken shape across the United States, including at Harborview Medical Center. In 2021, the hospital launched its Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, which takes a holistic approach to helping patients affected by interpersonal gun violence.

People in the program connect with intervention specialists, who get a sense of patients’ needs, build rapport and offer support. This could mean anything from finding transportation to their appointments to help with paying their medical bills. The goal is for these patients to leave the hospital with more support than they had coming in — so they never have to return with a gunshot wound.

In the second episode of First Response, we speak to the people involved with creating and sustaining this program at Harborview about how the idea first came about; how it got started and how it’s evolved; why the program focuses on people affected by interpersonal gun violence; and some of the challenges that it faces.

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Credits

Host/Producer: Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed

Reporters: : Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed

Story editor: Ryan Famuliner

Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

In the first episode of our three-part podcast series, two surgeons, a nurse and a paramedic describe the impact of seeing gun violence up close.

Medical professionals in Washington have gotten used to treating people affected by gun violence -- especially in recent years.

A few months ago, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis at a time when tens of thousands of Americans are dying from firearm-related injuries. This trend is hard to ignore at a place like Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Washington.

In the first episode of First Response, we speak to medical professionals at the hospital, as well as a King County paramedic, about what this rise in gun violence looks like on the ground – and the impact it has on them.

Many of these medical professionals aren’t desensitized to gun violence. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Instead of just responding to the immediate aftermath of a gunshot, health care workers at Harborview want to treat the long-term impact of firearm violence – and, they hope, prevent it from happening in the first place.

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Credits

Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard

Reporters: : Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard

Story editor: Ryan Famuliner

Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.