HJNO Jul/Aug 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  JUL / AUG 2023 61 SCAN THE QR FOR INFORMATION ON JOINING MASELA Educating physicians about public health challenges and crises is at the core of what medical associations do. As COVID deaths and cases have declined, another public health challenge became the focus of MASE- LA. This pervasive public health challenge gripping our region is gun violence. The causes of crime and violence are many, including poverty, economic inequity, and lack of adequate mental healthcare and education. The toll that violence is taking on our communities is increasing. The CDC re- ported there were 1,314 deaths in Louisiana in 2021 due to firearms, and almost 3,000 people in Louisiana are wounded by guns each year, resulting in Louisiana having the third highest rate of gun violence in the United States. Physicians see the impact of crime and violence every day in the emergency depart- ments and surgical suites across the region and in their medical practices. It touches physicians personally, too, as physicians or family members have been victims of violence. MASELA leadership recognizes that phy- sicians must be involved in the science of violence and in finding solutions. To offer support, expertise, and strength, MASELA joined the NOLA Coalition, the grassroots effort launched in 2022 to address violence in our communities. The coalition has grown to include 525 organizations — corporations, nonprofits, and community activists — to ad- dress violence with a two-pronged strategy to make our communities safer: 1) public safety, and 2) investment in youth services. Also, MASELAcoordinated an education- al forum for physicians in mid-March. The forum’s speakers included Jennifer Avegno, MD, New Orleans health director; Michael Hecht, president, GNO Inc. & NOLA Coali- tion; Rahn K. Bailey, MD, DFAPA, director of the LSU Health Sciences Center Depart- ment of Psychiatry; and Joseph Constans, PhD, Tulane University School of Science & Engineering, who also serves as senior manager for suicide prevention within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Even though the CDC states that violence is a “serious public health threat,”theAmer- ican Public HealthAssociation denotes it as a “leading cause of injury and death,”and the American Medical Association advocates that addressing violence inAmerica requires more physician leadership. Not enough re- sources, research, or attention is given to violence as is given to other public health issues that cause death, such as heart dis- ease. One speaker suggested that physicians are uniquely positioned to tell the stories of their patients and the implications of fire- arm violence. The forum raised awareness for commu- nity physicians about the causes of violence and effective strategies to reduce violence including safe storage mechanisms. More research is necessary in the field of gun vi- olence to understand the science behind it. More action is needed to implement strat- egies to address the root causes of gun vi- olence. Additionally, more collaboration is needed across communities to invest in sustainable solutions. A major outcome of the forum is the acknowledgement that more education is needed for physicians and the public about the prevalent public health challenge of vio- lence. JPMS & OPMS have submitted a res- olution to the Louisiana State Medical So- ciety to sponsor more physician education that focuses on strategies patients can take to reduce injuries, homicides, and suicides. As president this year, I encourage my physician colleagues to join MASELA and get involved in these and other public health issues. As leaders in our community, physi- cians’ voices count. n To join MASELA, go to masela.org/join. Gabriella Pridjian, MD, MBA President MASELA