WHAT: Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Harris County Public Health Director Barbie Robinson, Harris Health System and HCA Healthcare officials to announce the expansion of the County’s hospital-based violence interruption program.
WHO: Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis
Barbie Robinson, Executive Director HCPH
Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, President and CEO at Harris Health System
Dr. Shiree Berry, Trauma Medical Director at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest
WHEN: 3 p.m. Wednesday, February 22
WHERE: Ben Taub Emergency Department (Ambulance Deck) 1504 Taub Loop, Houston, Texas, 77030
VISUALS: The event will take place in front of the Ambulance Deck. Doctors and Nurses in white lab coats and/or scrubs will stand behind the officials.
LIVE STREAM: Precinct One Social Media accounts: @hcpct1 or https://www.youtube.com/@CommissionerRodneyEllis
Background:
In November 2022, Harris County Public Health (HCPH) and HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest launched a pilot program to assist injured survivors of violence in overall healing from the trauma associated with their injuries. The Hospital-Linked Violence Interruption Program (HVIP) assists injured survivors of violence who are admitted to an inpatient bed at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest following a gunshot wound, stabbing or aggravated assault. Ben Taub Hospital will soon house a new county-led violence prevention initiative, the second such program in Harris County.
For qualifying patients, the program will assist them in helping to break the cycle of violence or defuse immediate tensions with the hope of building long-term peace and creating a safer community for everyone. When patients meeting the qualifying criteria show up at either participating hospital, a social worker will call the public health department, which will then dispatch an outreach specialist to meet with the patient and their family or other visitors.[1]