NEW ORLEANS (press launch) – Weapons are the main reason for loss of life for teenagers beneath 18 in Louisiana and throughout the US. On April 6, Kids’s Hospital New Orleans and the New Orleans Well being Division are taking motion by partnering with Be SMART to coach the group about accountable gun possession to guard children and cut back little one firearm deaths. Be SMART is a nationwide program designed to assist dad and mom and adults normalize conversations about gun security and take accountable actions to stop little one gun deaths and accidents.
Right now, 4.6 million kids throughout the US stay in houses with at the very least one gun that’s loaded and unlocked. Every year within the U.S., 350 kids achieve entry to a firearm and unintentionally shoot themselves or another person—typically fatally. And greater than 700 kids die by suicide with a gun annually.
Throughout this afternoon’s information convention at Kids’s Hospital New Orleans, group leaders from the Metropolis of New Orleans, Mothers Demand Motion, American Academy of Pediatrics and leaders and physicians from Kids’s Hospital New Orleans gathered to handle the important challenge of gun security in our group.
“For years, our well being care suppliers have cared for hundreds of New Orleanians with gunshot wounds, and each one is devastating,” mentioned Jennifer Avegno, MD, director of the New Orleans Well being Division. “As adults, we’re accountable for retaining our kids secure. That’s why it’s essential for us to retailer weapons securely if we’ve them – and encourage buddies and neighbors to follow safe storage every time kids go to their houses.”
Weapons ought to be saved unloaded, separate from ammunition and locked in containers, safes, or with cable locks. In partnership with Be SMART, Kids’s Hospital New Orleans and the New Orleans Well being Division will share this vital message by way of broad public training mediums together with sharing messaging and assets on social media, print, out of doors and radio adverts, focused mailings, and distribution of supplies via colleges, well being care settings, group organizations and particular occasions.
“We urge the group to affix us in spreading this life saving message throughout New Orleans and past,” mentioned Lucio A. Fragoso, president and CEO of Kids’s Hospital New Orleans. “As the one verified Degree II Pediatric Trauma Heart serving Better New Orleans, we care for much too many of those kids in our Emergency Division, our Working Rooms and Intensive Care Models. However collectively, we’ve the facility to stop tragedies like these from taking place and to maintain children comfortable and wholesome.”
In collaboration with the Metropolis of New Orleans Workplace of Neighborhood Engagement, public occasions are being scheduled the place free biometric gun locks shall be out there to residents, together with training on learn how to use them, learn how to securely retailer weapons, and forestall harm and loss of life amongst kids. Gun locks can be requested on Kids’s Hospital’s web site at chnola.org/besmart, together with training and assets. Funding for the biometric gun locks is made potential via a grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Metropolis of New Orleans and Kids’s Hospital.
“Be SMART advocates in Louisiana are thrilled to face shoulder to shoulder with public security leaders throughout New Orleans,” mentioned Shannon Cian, the Be SMART volunteer chief in Louisiana. “Collectively, we’ll work to maintain our children and communities secure from the risks of unsecured firearms.”
Be SMART and assist unfold the safe gun storage message to maintain children secure. Go to chnola.org/besmart or besmartforkids.org/Louisiana for extra details about upcoming biometric gun lock giveaways, instruments and assets.