After joining other healthcare leaders from across the country at the White House Thursday to discuss public health strategies they’re pursuing to curb firearm deaths and injuries, Northwell Health last week commemorated National Gun Violence Awareness Day – and the start of “Wear Orange” Weekend — with a series of activities aimed at promoting firearm safety. and reducing street violence, suicide and unintentional shootings.

Beginning Thursday evening and continuing through the weekend, Northwell’s corporate headquarters at 2000 Marcus Ave. in New Hyde Park and three of its hospitals that have instituted hospital-based violence intervention programs – Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore and Staten Island University Hospital – were illuminated in orange to draw attention to the urgent need to aggressively respond to an epidemic that claimed the lives of more than 43,000 Americans in 2023 and injured more than 36,000.

On Friday, information booths were set up in the lobbies of those facilities to inform employees, patients and visitors on what they can do to advocate for change and make their homes and communities safer.

“Every movement that creates waves of positive change begins with optimism, hope, and people working together. Gun violence prevention is no exception, and while change can feel slow, momentum is growing,” said Northwell Health President & CEO Michael Dowling.

Dowling, leaders of Northwell’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention, and more than 80 other healthcare executives and physician leaders from across the country met Thursday with members of the White House Center for Gun Violence Prevention. T

he health care leaders, including members of the National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence Prevention & Safety that Mr. Dowling organized in late 2022, committed to continuing and expanding their efforts to promote gun safety education and awareness, establish hospital-based violence intervention programs and pursue other strategies to address this public health crisis.

For instance, members of the CEO Council have made an initial donation of $10 million toward a $40 million fundraising goal over the next two years to support a national gun violence prevention campaign in collaboration with the Ad Council, expected to roll out next year.

Seeking to reduce firearm-related homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings, Mr. Dowling established Northwell’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention in 2020, recognizing that caregivers are on the front lines of keeping their patients and communities safe, and see the tragic consequences of gun violence on a daily basis.

To encourage open dialogue among healthcare professionals, Northwell created the Gun Violence Prevention Learning Collaborative for Health Systems and Hospitals in 2021, providing a forum for them to share best practices and implement and evaluate strategies for preventing firearm-related injuries and deaths.

The Learning Collaborative now includes more than 600 participants from 38 states – about 40 percent of whom have started or expanded evidence-based firearm injury prevention strategies within their own organizations based on lessons learned during virtual meetings, demonstrating the impact of this type of sustained dialogue.

Recognizing the importance of developing a network of healthcare professionals and others in advocating for policy changes, Northwell has convened five Gun Violence Prevention Forums since 2019 to mobilize healthcare providers and convene policymakers and practitioners.

Over the past five years, Northwell has built relationships with hundreds of activists, elected officials, government agencies, academic organizations, medical groups, healthcare trade associations and individuals pursuing solutions to help curb firearm deaths and injuries, while also co-sponsoring and co-hosting numerous conferences and workshops.

In an effort to identify and intervene with those at high risk of violence, Northwell became the recipient of a $1.4 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to establish and implement a first-of-its-kind protocol to universally screen patients for firearm injury risk.

Similar to how clinicians routinely ask patients about their diet and exercise habits, whether they drink, smoke or use other substances, those coming into three Northwell emergency departments for whatever reason are asked whether they have access to a firearm, and if so, how it is stored.

Adults and adolescents (ages 12-17) are also asked questions such as: “How often have you heard guns being shot or had someone pull a gun on you?” In addition, teens are asked if they have gotten into serious fights, or if their friends carry knives, razors or guns.

If patients are deemed at risk based on their responses, clinicians trained in motivational interviewing counsel them on changes they can make in their lives to avoid becoming a victim and refer them to violence interrupter programs that provide long-term support. Over the past three years, Northwell clinicians have screened more 34,000 patients.

With firearms the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the U.S., Northwell also spearheaded the creation of Hospitals United, a coalition of 157 health systems, hospitals and other health care organizations nationwide that launched a 2023 public awareness campaign called “It doesn’t kill to ask” to promote safe storage of firearms and try to prevent the deaths of hundreds of children who are killed every year by guns that are not secured properly.