Enlisting the community. This contagious disease prevention approach uses community health workers to map areas of high transmission, reach out to those exposed, and intervene to reduce risk factors. For example, gang-related deaths are often due to retaliation. A thorough investigation of a patient who arrives in the emergency department (ED) with a gunshot wound can reveal the next likely perpetrators and victims. Then community violence prevention workers can go directly to these people and others in their social networks, such as parents and friends, to attempt to prevent the next shooting. This approach, dubbed “Cure Violence” (CureViolence.org), has resulted in up to a 70% decrease in violence in some areas of Chicago.2 Some neighborhoods of Baltimore and New York have seen similar reductions.3-5
What can family practitioners do? Dr. Slutkin believes his approach could be expanded from EDs to other health care settings, like primary care, where we can identify people at risk and refer them to community violence prevention resources. Imagine it—a day when violence goes the way of polio.