Norfolk hospitals raise awareness for gun violence survivors, families support programs
An orange-wearing sea of medical workers, survivors of gun violence and their families joined in front of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters on Friday to raise awareness for rising rates of gun violence in Hampton Roads.
The hospitals raised awareness for their respective programs meant to rehabilitate survivors of gun violence and their families.
Safer Futures, CHKD’s program, is led by Kamron Blue, a Virginia Beach native and social worker. Beyond the emergency room or operating table, the traumas caused to a family by gun violence create an intergenerational “ripple effect” beyond the physical injury.
“People should know and be aware of the long-lasting mental and emotional effects of community violence and gun violence and how these types of incidents increase your risk for developing (posttraumatic stress disorder), increases your risk for substance abuse, increases your risk for incarceration,” Blue said. “More and more boxes are checked just from one incident.”
Safer Futures families’ needs can range from mental health treatment to moving neighborhoods or schools in order to escape violent situations.
While Safer Futures only serves children and their families, Norfolk General’s “Foresight” program looks to provide opportunities for adults who survive gun violence — adults like Raymond Lathem.
Lathem suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was shot a little less than a year ago. He is barely able to walk or hold his 1-year-old daughter, and can’t move his left arm.
Beyond the physical toll, Lathem was left depressed and unable to work.
“I was heavily depressed due to the fact that I can no longer do the things that I want,” Lathem said. “My daughter is a little afraid of me because she’s not used to seeing me like this.”
There was one incident of gun violence in Hampton Roads every 1.8 days for the first 111 days of 2022, The Pilot reported in April.
At CHKD, eight children have been treated for gunshot wounds this year and 27 children have been treated for assault. Since the start of 2022, over 200 patients have been treated for wounds sustained from gun violence at Norfolk General, an increase from last year.
Foresight can’t unburden survivors like Lathem from the trauma they must carry. But it can provide them with resources, like transportation to physical therapy and psychiatry services. Lathem has begun art therapy — he said creating, alongside support from his family, takes his mind off of what he has lost due to gun violence.
Surrounded by fellow survivors of gun violence and supporters on Friday, Lathem said the rally brought tears to his eyes.
“I will no longer ever be the same that I was before,” Lathem said. “But to see that there are people out there that support me and every other person who has been a victim of gun violence — I am no longer a victim, I am a survivor.”
