First Response: The medical professionals treating gunshot wounds
In the first episode of our three-part podcast series, two surgeons, a nurse and a paramedic describe the impact of seeing gun violence up close.
Dr. Sam Arbabi, chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center, and emergency radiology section chief Ken Linnau look over an X-ray that shows buckshot in the leg of a patient at Harborview Medical Center, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. [This image has been digitally altered to remove all identifying patient information.] (Genna Martin for Cascade PBS)
Medical professionals in Washington have gotten used to treating people affected by gun violence — especially in recent years.
A few months ago, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis at a time when tens of thousands of Americans are dying from firearm-related injuries. This trend is hard to ignore at a place like Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Washington.
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Dr. Sam Arbabi, chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center, talks with patient Gregory Briscoe and Briscoe’s brother Darren Christian on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. Briscoe is recovering from a spinal cord injury. (Genna Martin for Cascade PBS)
In the first episode of First Response, we speak to medical professionals at the hospital, as well as a King County paramedic, about what this rise in gun violence looks like on the ground – and the impact it has on them.
Many of these medical professionals aren’t desensitized to gun violence. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Instead of just responding to the immediate aftermath of a gunshot, health care workers at Harborview want to treat the long-term impact of firearm violence – and, they hope, prevent it from happening in the first place.
