Debra Williams

Guest columnist

May is Trauma Awareness Month and the American Trauma Society continues to be a leader in promoting trauma awareness and injury prevention initiatives.

This year, the focus is on firearm injury prevention.

Everyday in the United States, eight children and 75 adults die or become injured because of firearm violence. In 2017, there was a firearm related death every 13 minutes and approximately two thirds were suicides.

By providing basic education in five key areas, firearm injury and deaths can be prevented.

Firearm safety practices

Firearm safety practices promote the safe care and management of firearms. Firearm injury prevention strategies include utilizing firearm safes, locks and lockable firearm cases or boxes. Proper storage of firearms assists in preventing unauthorized use. When communities participate in firearm buyback programs, it encourages proper and safe removal of unwanted firearms in a non-threatening environment. Successful programs can empower a community.

Hunter safety

Firearms are a large part of the sport of hunting. Hunter education has played a role in preventing injury and death during the different hunting seasons.

The four main rules of firearm safety when utilizing these weapons are: Treat every firearm as if it is loaded; the muzzle of the firearm must always point in a safe direction; do not keep your finger on the trigger unless you are ready to shoot, and always know what is in front and behind of the target in which you are shooting. Utilizing education and prevention programs geared toward hunter safety, helps decrease injuries.

Urban violence

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), cities carry the largest burden for firearm-related violence and firearms have become tools of violence in the urban setting. There are reports of decline in gun violence in cities over the last decade mainly due to implemented policies, policing strategies, education and prevention strategies. Because of the decline seen, it is believed that these strategies are working and the initiatives must be ongoing in the urban environment.

Suicide and firearm prevention

The Centers for Disease Control has deemed suicide by firearms to be a public health crisis. Over the past 10 years, there has been a 19 percent increase in the amount of firearm related suicides in our country. Research identifies that the access to firearms makes a difference when someone is contemplating suicide. Time and distance between that person and the firearm may be effective in preventing a tragic death.

Stop the bleed

This interactive course is designed by the US Department of Homeland Security as a national campaign to educate and empower anyone to be able to save a life by quickly utilizing learned skills.

There are many different reasons why someone could be injured and massively bleeding and this campaign has a goal to provide resources and knowledge to everyone so that they may save the life of a victim who may otherwise die. Cooper University Hospital, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and Cooper EMS together have taught these valuable skills to over 1,100 individuals in 2018.

Increasing your knowledge and practicing safe firearm management may help you or someone you know reduce the risk of ending up in an emergency room or trauma center.

Debra Williams, RN, MSN, CCRN-K, TCRN, is a trauma injury prevention and outreach coordinator for Copper University Hospital

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