COLORADO, USA – Dr. Emmy Betz is a professor of emergency medicine and deputy director of the Injury and Violence Prevention Center at the University of Colorado.
It was announced in December that the Center is partnering with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Office of Gun Violence Prevention to create a gun violence prevention resource bank in Colorado.
The questions and answers below have been edited for clarity.
What do you do at the Center for Injury and Violence Prevention?
We’re really interested in looking at all types of firearm injuries and deaths, so homicides, suicides, domestic partner violence, unintentional shootings of children, and so on.
But most importantly, [we’re] based on working with affected communities. So we have researchers and educators in multiple different departments from pediatrics to geriatrics working together and in different ways to find different solutions.
What does this partnership with CDPHE’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention mean?
We are so excited and honored to be working with CDPHE on this new Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which has a huge task ahead of them, so we are happy to do what we can to support them as an academic scientific partner.
We will work to build the resource bank for that office, which will be an online hub of materials that we hope will be informative and useful and accessible to everyone from the general public to policymakers at the executive level. high so that everyone can understand what the current situation is in Colorado when it comes to gun violence and injuries.
Where does the resource bank stand now? What is the progress on it and when will it be available?
We’ve been able to put together this all-star team of people who have expertise in this space, whether it’s building community networks or building dashboards.
And so our team is working hard. We are building the content now for what will eventually be the website, which will have basic, non-partisan, non-advocacy language about the facts of the various types of gunshot injuries and death in Colorado. Along with an interactive dashboard so people can really investigate things for themselves. …
We are on track now for a summer launch is my guess. But we’re working hard to get the content out as soon as we can because we know people want it. But of course we want it to be well done and accurate before anything is published.
Why is it useful to look at gun violence through a public health lens?
It’s saying it’s not just a criminal problem. It’s not just for police departments or the criminal justice system to fix this.
It’s a public health issue because people are dying, because people are getting hurt, and because there are emotional and psychological scars that come from being a victim of or witnessing gun violence. … And when I say gun violence, I mean suicide, community violence, mass shootings, all forms of firearm-related injury and death.
And then we can use the tools of public health, understanding which populations are affected, what kinds of interventions, what kinds of prevention programs might work and understand [that] what might work for suicidal farmers will be different than what works for teenagers living in parts of Denver or Aurora. And it’s okay that we can do complex things, we can solve complex problems.
Do you think that talking about gun violence through a public health lens removes some of the political elements that are so often involved when talking about guns?
We certainly hope so because we came to this out of a desire to prevent injury and harm, injury and death to anyone, regardless of their background, whether or not they own a gun. We all share a desire for our families to be healthy and happy.
Are other countries doing these kinds of partnerships?
Not that I really know. I think Colorado is really unique and leading the field in this way, in that it has a state-funded office that has its own mandate, but then partners with an academic partner in this way. …
There are several other centers around the country that are set up differently, but I think this one in Colorado, we believe at least has the potential to really have a big impact on the state. And hopefully in the country. I hope it will be a model for other countries.
Have you received deferments during your career because of the type of research you do?
I think sometimes. Mainly when people don’t understand what we are doing. I think sometimes there’s an initial push back about what matters, or suicide isn’t preventable, or some of these misconceptions.
We take it as an opportunity to correct this misunderstanding. … I would say that my experience overall has been that people are really interested and appreciative of an approach that cuts through the noise.
And it’s not about yelling at each other, it’s actually about recognizing what we all have in common and that we can find solutions that can work for our communities. That’s really what it’s all about at the end of the day.
Anything else you’d like to add?
This partnership has allowed us at the Center to engage some truly fantastic students. So PhD students, public health students who already have exceptional skills and are passionate about growing their careers in this space. So they are working hard on the project with us and my hope is that it will help them grow in their future positions.
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