Health care community seeking end to violence

By Raya Tahan

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Between June and August, more than 170 assaults involving gunshots, knife wounds and blunt beatings, were recorded at University Medical Center and Tucson Medical Center's trauma centers, said John Fortune, director of both centers.

In response, 150 health care professionals are scheduled to participate in a day long workshop today to develop violence prevention strategies.

This summer's assault figure is the highest ever reported, Fortune said, and incidents of violence are increasing steadily in Tucson.

In February, retailing junior Jacqueline Fish and sociology junior Elizabeth Martin were held up at gunpoint while walking to their Arizona Commons apartment.

Fish said they were walking on East First Street near Euclid Avenue when a man ran toward them, pointed a handgun, demanded their wallets, and then ran away with the them. Police came to their apartment one and a half months later with mugshots, Fish said, and "by then, I could not have identified him."

"We just did not feel safe afterward," Fish said. "I wanted to know how this kid, who looked to be in his teens, got a gun. And all of a sudden it's in our face(s)."

The participants of the workshop will develop an action plan to prevent violence from occurring, said Nancy Guthrie, associate director of public affairs at Arizona Health Sciences Center.

"Because we see so much of the results of violence, what we are trying to do is brainstorm about what the health care community can do."

Fortune said, "The health care professionals' involvement will provide another level of support as the community rallies to prevent violence, an urgent health care problem."

Speakers include Beverly Coleman-Miller, a Washington, D.C., physician who works in urban health care and violence prevention. She is scheduled to trace the root causes of violence and discuss interventions that have been successful throughout the country.

The workshop, scheduled to take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel on 445 South Alvernon Way, is sponsored by a collaboration of health care providers: University Medical Center; St. Joseph's, St. Mary's and Northwest Hospitals; Tucson Osteopathic Medical Foundation; and Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.

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