New Youth Gun Violence Prevention Initiative Calls on HCPs to Help Curb Public Health Crisis

Recently, at Northwell Health’s Gun Violence Prevention Forum, the Ad Council and a coalition of healthcare partners launched a first-of-its-kind initiative to address one of the most pressing public health crises of our time: gun violence.

The new effort, “Agree to Agree,” which is supported by leading medical associations as well as hospitals and health systems across the country, is the first national cross-sector youth gun violence prevention campaign with a public health approach.

 Why this matters for your healthcare professional (HCP) readers:

• Firearm injuries were the number 1 cause of death for children and teens aged 1 to 17 years in the US for 3 consecutive years, and HCPs can play a unique role.
• HCPs are on the front lines of this crisis, and with the partnership of health systems and hospitals, we can elevate this public health crisis, bring urgency to the issue, and open up the dialogue on gun violence prevention.
• Given the highly trusted relationships they have with the patients and families they care for, HCPs are uniquely positioned to drive conversations about prevention of gun violence.
• A series of new PSAs (public service announcements) featuring HCPs speaking directly to other clinicians about the issue drives readers to curated resources at AgreeToAgree.org/HealthCare.

DocWire News spoke with Ro Patrick, senior vice president, group campaign director at the Ad Council, and Dr. Jose Prince, vice chair, Surgery and vice president, Pediatric Surgical Services, Northwell Health, about the responsibility and unique role HCPs play in helping to prevent firearm injuries through conversations with patients.

DocWire News: What is the “Agree to Agree” campaign, what inspired its development, and why is it being launched now? 

Ro Patrick: We’re in the midst of a devastating gun violence crisis in this country. Firearm injuries have been the leading cause of death for children and teens in this country for 3 consecutive years. Frankly, that’s just really an unacceptable reality. So, Agree to Agree is a campaign that unites health systems and hospital systems across this country.

We’re talking red states and blue states, rural, suburban, urban, to bring urgent action and really looking at tangible, nonpartisan things that each of us can do to really start to make a difference. And so, we call it Agree to Agree because this campaign is grounded in the understanding that even on an issue like gun violence, where it could be seen as pretty divisive, there’s actually already a lot that we agree on, and especially when we’re talking about children at the center of it.

What we are releasing now on this campaign is really the first phase of this effort, and there are 2 parts. One is talking to parents and those with youth in their lives, and the other is really talking directly to clinicians, so to healthcare providers, who are really at the front line of the crisis, like Dr. Prince is, and are very much trusted by the community and by families across the country to provide collaborative care and personalized care so that we can keep our community safer.

What motivated you to join the “Agree to Agree” campaign?

Dr. Jose Prince: I’ve been a pediatric surgeon and a trauma surgeon for 25 years now, and something as devastating as the loss of a child—especially to firearms—is really front and center for someone like me in my professional life. And really partnering with The Ad Council, when you have something that’s so important that you want to trust that the messenger is there to convey the right message, that we’re not partisan, that we are all here together, we are worried about the well-being of children. And we are here about advocating for their health and their joy in life looking down the line. So really putting all that together, how could I not and how can any of us not jump into this conversation?

Why is it crucial for HCPs to be involved in addressing gun violence as a public health issue?

It’s a fundamental issue of health and well-being for our… again, from my lens for our children but this is true for all of us as Americans. As physicians, as healthcare providers, we see the devastating impact in an individual, as a surgeon physically, and for many of us as providers, on the entire family and the whole community. And what one bullet in one moment can do to a person in crisis, to a person who finds themselves in a challenging situation, to a child who picks up a firearm and unintentionally discharges it because they’re 3 years old and shouldn’t have access to a firearm. I think we can all agree on that: that a 3-year-old should not have access to a loaded firearm. Let’s start there.

How can physicians effectively incorporate discussions about gun violence into their interactions with patients, given limited time?

There are studies that show that just telling people that we care about access to a firearm and that it’s safely cared for, stored, and the children or those who are in a moment of crisis won’t have access to it, just showing as a physician that you care makes people think about it, brings it front of mind and impacts their behavior. So, I don’t need to do an extensive survey. I don’t need to ask… have people tell me whether they have a firearm at all. I just need to signal that their well-being and safety matters to me. And that if I say that and that if they have a firearm in their home, to please make sure it’s locked, please make sure it’s safely stored, please make sure that it’s not loaded, and please make sure someone that shouldn’t have access to it shouldn’t have access to it.

How can HCPs stay informed about the campaign, and what resources are available for those looking to engage more actively?

Yeah, so HCPs can go to our website, which is agreetoagree.org. We have a separate section for healthcare professionals: it’s agreetoagree.org/healthcare. There they can really learn about what Dr. Prince was saying, which is the unique role that clinicians have to help to prevent firearm injuries through nonjudgmental, really collaborative, productive conversations with their patients and their families.

Some of the resources that we have on the website really include research around just the scope of the issue, programs and guides on how clinicians and HCPs can really start to have the conversation to reduce firearm injuries and deaths. I think it’s important to note that this is just the very beginning of our campaign. So, we are looking at a multiyear, multifaceted approach.

In the weeks and months ahead, we’re actually going to be creating, rolling out additional resources to clinicians—and more importantly—building out the website, so agreetoagree.org/healthcare, to include even more resources and information. So, it really becomes a robust digital resource hub that HCPs can go to to get educated but also learn how to really have productive conversations with their patients and families that they care for.

Dr. Jose Prince, Surgeon in Chief, Northwell Cohen Children’s Medical Center

Bio: Jose M. Prince, MD, FACS, FAAP is the VP of Pediatric Surgical Services of Northwell Health and the Surgeon in Chief of Cohen Children’s Medical Center.  He is a Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics and Vice Chair of Surgery at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

A native of Queens, NY, Dr. Prince is invited internationally to speak about trauma, surgery, and children’s healthcare.  A graduate of Yale University School of Medicine, he completed his pediatric and general surgery training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

As the founding director of the Laboratory of Pediatric Injury and Inflammation in the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, he has pursued pediatric trauma and injury prevention research for over 20 years. In his role as executive sponsor for the Northwell Center for Gun Violence Prevention, he supports NIH and state-funded research, violence interruption programs, and educational efforts focused on firearm injury and mortality prevention.

Dr. Prince and his team’s work has recently been featured on Netflix in the docuseries entitled “Emergency NYC” which highlights their efforts on behalf of children.  He has authored more than 80 scientific reports, articles and chapters and is an active member of many professional societies, including the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Ro Patrick, Senior Vice President, Group Campaign Director, The Ad Council

Bio: Ro Patrick is a Senior Vice President, Group Campaign Director for the Ad Council, the national nonprofit working across advertising, tech, media, marketing and philanthropy to accelerate change around the country’s most pressing issues. She leads the development, implementation and evaluation of national public service campaigns at the Ad Council, particularly on critical efforts to reduce gun violence and address the overdose crisis.