When you’ve been shot, and you’re lying in a hospital bed, everything comes at you at once. Pain fires through your body. Your mind races, overwhelmed and confused. Medical staff and law enforcement buzz around you with questions, wanting answers that can’t wait.
What is often forgotten is emotional care for survivors of violence, and that lack of trauma response has a devastating ripple effect on the victims, their families and communities.
As a gun violence survivor and advocate and a legislator and nurse, we are committed to advancing real solutions that stop cycles of community violence and help victims heal.
Fortunately, we already have a model in place in Multnomah County that does both. Healing Hurt People from Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center or POIC, is a hospital-based violence intervention program that works to end cycles of community violence and support survivors on their path toward healing. The approach is proven effective, and the need is urgent, which is why we are grateful that the Oregon Legislature and governor have decided to build on its success.
Healing Hurt People serves the people who suffer most from community violence. The most likely victims of intentional gunshot and stabbing wounds are people of color aged 10-44, which is why the program specifically serves these communities. Advocates are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, available to be at hospitals for victims and their loved ones, beginning at the first moments of crisis and for the next 18 months.
Ongoing mentorship and genuine connection are keys to the program’s success. Intensive case managers are credible messengers: trusted people from the community, many of whom have survived violence themselves. They are in a unique position to offer culturally specific support; they know the complex dynamics that contribute to community violence, and they have experienced what it takes to transform lives.
The program is comprehensive so that victims’ healing can be comprehensive. Case managers link survivors to medical care, safety planning, secure housing, substance use disorder treatment, education, employment, relocation and trauma therapy. This wide-ranging approach strengthens elements in people’s lives that have been unstable, which is essential to reducing the risk of being involved in future violence.
Our communities are stronger when victims of violence get what they need to truly heal. When survivors’ emotional care is not addressed, that neglect can have broad consequences. Victims are more likely to be victimized again. Untreated trauma can lead to despair, resentment and sometimes more violence. We see this among people who have been convicted of community violence, where the vast majority have been victims themselves, sometimes repeatedly.
Sometimes hurt people hurt people, but healed people heal people, too. This is at the heart of the work that we must invest in to restore the victims, families and communities that are disproportionately affected by community violence.
With gun violence continuing to impact Oregonians across the state, more of our communities have needed access to these life-changing services. Over the past several years, the Legislature has made critical investments toward helping victims heal, and we are grateful for continued support for these vital services. As a result, Portland Metro communities will continue to be served by the program, and victims in Eugene, Salem, Ashland and Burns will receive meaningful solutions to gun violence, too.
We have dedicated ourselves to healing victims and communities in different ways, and we have seen that survivors need to be able to restore their lives beyond what’s possible in hospitals and courtrooms. Communities can only heal from violence when victims heal from violence, and Oregonians will now receive the support it takes to get there.
Roy Moore is Co-Director of the Community Care Team / Healing Hurt People at POIC + RAHS. Travis Nelson represents House District 44 in North Portland and is a registered nurse.
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