Doctors and Med Students Announce Nationwide Stand on September 16 to End America's Firearms Epidemic

STANFORD, Calif., Sept. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, September 16 at Stanford Medical Center and leading centers of medicine across the U.S., doctors, nurses, medical students, EMTs, and other healthcare professionals and supporters will stand together for the second year to accept the professional challenge of gun violence.

At 12 p.m. in over 40 locations across the country, medical professionals will hold simultaneous rallies calling for specific measures to treat firearm violence as a public health crisis and epidemic.

This powerful call for action is being led by a team of prominent Stanford physicians and medical students across the U.S. who have banded together with healthcare providers to create SAFE ("Scrubs Addressing the Firearms Epidemic") https://www.standsafe.org/.

Advisors to SAFE include a nonpartisan range of physicians, three retired U.S. military generals, former ABC news reporter Bob Woodruff, and medical students and lawyers who specialize in this field.

Next to victims and their families, there are no greater experts on the harm inflicted by gun violence than the physicians and healthcare workers who try to save lives and repair the damage caused by bullets each day in America.

"We are not helpless to fight gun violence," says SAFE Legislative Affairs Director Dr. Susie MacLean. "Physicians individually and collectively with other health care professionals speak powerfully with both authority and compassion. We are ready to fight for our patients and our communities to save lives from gun violence."

SAFE Co-founder Dr. Dean Winslow is a physician and Stanford University Professor of Medicine, who served as a flight surgeon for 35 years in the US Air Force, retiring as a Colonel. 

"In my six deployments as a flight surgeon to Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, I witnessed firsthand the devastating effects that assault weapons have on human bodies," says Winslow. "These are weapons designed for the battlefield. Easy access to these same types of weapons in the U.S. has resulted in dozens of horrific mass shootings - and handguns cause the deaths of at least 20 veterans each day by suicide." 

Winslow's strong opinion on banning assault weapons was recently published in an editorial opinion piece in Silicon Valley's Mercury News.

"Recently we've learned that vaping has caused a handful of deaths," continues Winslow, "and doctors are energized to take action. Yet, thousands die from gun violence and we remain silent.  Doctors and other health care professions can save lives by pushing a public health message. We've seen first-hand the devastation caused by firearms and should commit ourselves to sparing our children and grandchildren from such threats in the future."

According to MacLean, "we went to Capitol Hill in June 2019 to request federal funding for gun violence prevention research. On Monday, September 16, we will learn what the latest gun violence research shows and what we can do to reduce firearm deaths."

University of Massachusetts medical student and SAFE student organizer, Deniz Cataltepe adds, "As medical students being trained to protect our patients' physical and mental health, we were struck by the lack of medical education available on such a devastating issue. With each mass shooting covered in the news, it was clear that we needed to incorporate teaching on firearm safety and gun violence into the medical education curriculum for medical students."

Students at medical schools across the country will join together on September 16 at 12 p.m. to focus attention on:

• The more active role that doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals are taking in attacking this public health crisis.
• Advocating that firearm safety education be included in every comprehensive health plan for patients.
• Initiatives to develop materials to help physicians and nurses incorporate firearm safety education to keep families healthy.
• The crippling legal limitations on gun violence research by government agencies.

For the complete list of participating medical centers and schools, go to https://www.standsafe.org/chapters

About Standsafe.org:                                                           

Founded at Stanford University in 2018, Standsafe.org is an organization made up of U.S. physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals dedicated to eliminating the U.S. firearm violence epidemic through research, education, and evidence-based policy. For more information, please visit https://www.standsafe.org

SOURCE SAFE: Scrubs Addressing the Firearms Epidemic

Related Links

https://www.standsafe.org/