HJNO Mar/Apr 2024

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAR / APR 2024 21 doesn't happen in isolation to just one per- son; it affects those around them and even their communities. We also have psychiatric medicationmanagement, casemanagement, assertive outreach, legal assistance, violence prevention and intervention programs. Lastly, we provide community referrals — we form partnerships with other community organi- zations who are doing work adjacent to what we are doing, so if we don't provide a service someone needs, we can get that person con- nected seamlessly, and it doesn't have to dis- rupt their recovery process. In terms of how it's different from what's available already, I would say there are not many, if any, services that are focused on acute traumatic injury.There are a lot of men- tal health providers out there who specialize and can treat trauma. Oftentimes, the trauma that they're seeing someone for has happened in the distant past. We start interacting with a lot of patients here while they're in the hos- pital because we have an inpatient service where we first screen patients proactively to see if they're experiencing any trauma related to stress during their hospital stay, and we provide support at that time, so they don't have to wait until they get discharged to get our support or services. But also, I think that physical nature of the trauma and where we are located allows us to provide a holistic approach to the recov- ery process where we work closely with other disciplines — like trauma surgery, ortho, neuro — and really try to support some- one's recovery process in all areas, not just the psychological or emotional. That's defi- nitely another unique aspect as not all trauma recovery centers are embedded in a hospital systemor incorporate a stepped-caremodel. Additionally, we have the hospital-based violence intervention program. The violence intervention team consists of violence inter- rupters who offer support and crisis inter- vention to individuals who have been shot and their families right when they come into the ER. Their goal is to reduce risk of reinjury due to retaliation and further violent crime. Long term, violence intervention special- ists work with survivors of gunshot wounds to reduce their own risk of violent reinjury, knowing that this is a high-risk population for Define trauma from the center's perspective. Because of the nature of how this center is embedded in the Level I Trauma Center at UMC, people who come to our center have an acute traumatic injury, and it's usually an isolated event that brought them to our care. The physical trauma is often associated with some psychological trauma or emotional dis- tress. It's never just cut and dry, though, as humans are complex, and trauma is com- plex. Oftentimes, people have experienced multiple traumas in their lifetime, but they are coming to us for that more recent acute one — a physical injury due to a car accident, a gunshot wound, a fall … It can be anything, but even just the recovery process … if your physical functioning has changedwhat you're capable of doing, whether that's your job or playing with your kids, this can disrupt your life in a lot of ways that people need sup- port around. That may be a short-term dis- ruption, or it could be a long-term disrup- tion. If someone is feeling down or having some other trauma-related distress and it's not addressed, it can worsen over time. Our goal is to get that education out there to patients and families so that it doesn't have to get worse before it gets better. Which specific services and programs does the center offer to support trauma recovery, and how do these services differ from or complement existing resources in the community? Everything in our center is trauma- informed and trauma-specific. We provide mental health and support services that are survivor-centered and evidence-based, such as individual and family psychother- apy. Some of the evidence-based treatments offered include cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD, prolonged exposure therapy, and eye movement desensitization and repro- cessing therapy.And we have support groups that are open to not just someone who was traumatically injured, but also their family members or loved ones.All of our services are available to family members and loved ones as well because we recognize that trauma Thank you, Dr. Rajo, for taking time today to discuss the new center. Readers of the journal are familiar with hospital trauma centers, but we understand the Trauma Recovery Center is the first of its kind in the state. Share with us what a trauma recovery center is and the mission and vision of the center. Thank you for taking the time to talk and learn more about the center. We're very excited about it. Here at UMC in the Level I Trauma Center, we know all too well that physical trauma is happening all day every day, whether it's from accidents or commu- nity violence or work-related injuries. Some- thing that is not talked about as often is the consequence of interpersonal violence or physical trauma on someone's emotional or mental health, and it can really be devastating trying to recover both physically and emo- tionally from a traumatic injury regardless of the cause. Trauma recovery centers are geared at providing wraparound services for trauma survivors to help them navigate all the ups and downs of the recovery process. Trauma recovery centers around this country are gen- erally focused on servicing crime survivors, but our center in New Orleans is broader in scope — we see individuals who've experi- enced any traumatic injury. It does not have to be an injury related to crime. The trauma recovery center (TRC) model, which is based on anti-racist and social justice principles, is geared to reduce barriers to care and provide specializedmental health and case manage- ment services to individuals who oftentimes can't access these services, whether because of financial barriers, language barriers, stigma in their communities, or other practical bar- riers like transportation. I think of it as wrap- ping our arms around survivors and giving them the care that they need and sometimes that theymay not even realize in themoment that they need until they hear what's avail- able. It is being proactive but also doing some prevention so that people are aware of com- mon trauma reactions and can reach out if and when they experience some of those things.