Despite the federal government recently naming gun violence as a national health emergency, cuts to crucial federal grant programs undermine efforts to reduce such risks, according to Northeast Ohio hospital and state officials.
The Surgeon General's Advisory on Firearm Violence issued in late June declared gun violence a national public health threat, noting that 54% of U.S. adults or their family members have experienced a firearm-related incident. The report recommended hospitals to advance their data on gun violence through improved sources and data collection efforts.
Gun violence is an immediate public health threat that needs action, especially for children, said Dr. Tim Lee, medical director of the Akron Campus Emergency Department at Akron Children's Hospital. He noted that gun violence is the number one cause of death among children and adolescents, but it touches everyone.
"I consider myself a pretty average individual and just within my own social circles, I've lost two people as a result of gun violence," he said.
In response, various local hospital systems, including Akron Children's and University Hospitals, have been screening patients for their potential risks for gun violence and providing access to social workers, gun locks and other means to limit or secure access to weapons.
But efforts to continue and expand their work beyond emergency departments and gun violence victims to survey all patients are in jeopardy, given large cuts to key funding sources, such as the federal Victims of Crime Act program, said Matthew Krock, a University Hospitals social worker.
A 40% reduction over the next grant cycle will have a significant impact on programs beyond gun violence victims, such as "sexual assault, nurse examination, advocates and the like," Krock said.
"When funds systematically get reduced like that, some programs might have to close or might not be able to expand to meet the demand as it grows," Krock said. "So obviously that can have a pretty large effect."
Krock is also the program coordinator of the Antifragility Initiative at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, which provides personalized mental health support for gun violence victims and their families in the hospital when they are first injured, and continues for a year after discharge.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost expressed concerns over funding reductions in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
"I am dumfounded by your announcement to cut federal funding for Victims of Crime by 41% in a single year," Yost wrote, noting that Ohio received $117 million for Victims of Crime funding in 2018. "Your announcement will fund Ohio at $26 million — a 78% drop. Like the rest of the country, Ohio is not experiencing less crime than in 2018."
That funding is the primary financial source for victim services in all 50 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia, Yost's letter added.
"These cuts will deeply damage — if not destroy — many of the agencies that are front-line support, and the victims will be left with few or no services," he wrote.
