First Response: How Gun Violence Impacts Medical Professionals

In the first episode of our three-part podcast series, two surgeons, a nurse and a paramedic describe the impact of seeing gun violence up close.

Medical professionals in Washington have gotten used to treating people affected by gun violence -- especially in recent years.  

A few months ago, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis at a time when tens of thousands of Americans are dying from firearm-related injuries. This trend is hard to ignore at a place like Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Washington.    

In the first episode of First Response, we speak to medical professionals at the hospital, as well as a King County paramedic, about what this rise in gun violence looks like on the ground – and the impact it has on them.  

Many of these medical professionals aren’t desensitized to gun violence. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Instead of just responding to the immediate aftermath of a gunshot, health care workers at Harborview want to treat the long-term impact of firearm violence – and, they hope, prevent it from happening in the first place.  

---

Credits 

Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard

Reporters: : Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard

Story editor: Ryan Famuliner

Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

---

If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.