“Our children are dying and we can stop it,” says Dr. Ted Corbin, an emergency department physician at the Drexel University College of Medicine where he is both a doctor and a violence prevention practitioner. Violence, he says, is a major public health problem nationally….Ted’s project is the cornerstone program of the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the Drexel University College of Medicine. It is an innovative, community-focused, hospital-based program designed to address the needs—physical, emotional and social—that victims of violence face after being released from the emergency department.
Ted’s fellowship will allow him to achieve three primary goals:
- Establish the evidence base for Healing Hurt People through a feasibility study involving 90 adult subjects: 45 in a control group and 45 in the treatment group cycling through the full HHP program. The purpose of the research is to demonstrate: (1) the utility of an emergency department, trauma-informed intervention at addressing the psychological stress brought on by violence; and, (2) the cost-effectiveness of the program. In doing so, Ted hopes to expand the model to other emergency departments in the region and across the country.
- Establish a coordinated effort to address youth violence among multiple systems by creating a Youth Injury Review Panel. These systems include law enforcement, justice, medical, behavioral health, human services, and education. The Youth Injury Review Panel would:Advocate and provide leadership—locally and nationally—for policy and practice changes that reflect a public health approach to youth violence that is trauma-informed. Some of the reforms that Ted will promote include the collection of data at hospitals to include all violence related incidents, not just homicides and gunshot wounds as well as professional development and training in trauma-informed approaches for providers in the systems that serve injured youth.
- Review serious nonfatal injuries;
- Identify system-level barriers faced by these victims;
- Formulate strategies for removing barriers;
- Inform collective efforts to provide appropriate services to clients; and
- Formulate policy recommendations as needed.
- Advocate and provide leadership—locally and nationally—for policy and practice changes that reflect a public health approach to youth violence that is trauma-informed. Some of the reforms that Ted will promote include the collection of data at hospitals to include all violence related incidents, not just homicides and gunshot wounds as well as professional development and training in trauma-informed approaches for providers in the systems that serve injured youth.
Ted and his program are also members of the Network of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs of which is now headquartered in Philadelphia. This is a shared effort between the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice (Drexel) and Philadelphia Collaborative of Violence Prevention Center (CHOP).”
Originally published in ACEs Connection
