Hospital CEOs Across the Country – Including in Connecticut – Unite to Fight Gun Violence

“Together, we can make a difference, “ posted Jeffrey Flaks, President and Chief Executive Officer at Hartford Healthcare.  “I am proud to stand with health care leaders from across the country in The New York Times in support of gun safety and violence prevention.”

Flaks is referring to a prominently placed full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times this past weekend, an open letter from “Hospital CEOs Across America” who signed their names “United to Fight Gun Violence,” as the ad headlined.

Flaks was among 46 CEO’s who signed, members of the newly formed National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence Prevention & Safety, which is assembling to tackle the issue. They represent some of the nation’s largest health systems and hospitals.

Council members have signed the following promise: "Guns are now the leading cause of death for kids. This needs to change.”  Flaks was joined by Yale New Haven Health System CEO Christopher O’Conner and Michael Slubowski of Trinity Health, among the hospital CEOs from across the country.

“As health care leaders,’ the ad read, “we pledge to use the collective power of our voices and resources to curb this epidemic, and make our communities safer for everyone.”

O’Connor, in a statement issued nearly a year ago after the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, said “As we process yet another, gut wrenching tragedy of this nature, we must recommit ourselves to finding a better path forward by bolstering support for behavioral health services as we do everything in our power to eliminate the scourge of gun violence in our communities.”

Slubowski said recently "I think having better data collection and more research will help us understand the root causes and risk factors of gun violence.  He went on to state that "It would be our hope that we would find some evidence-based solutions to the issue."

In launching the new initiative last month, convening at Northwell Health in New York, officials indicated that they hoped to “create an actionable roadmap to reduce unintentional gun deaths and gun-related homicides and suicides.”  Northwell Health’s Connecticut operations include a relationship with the Western Connecticut Health Network, which operates Danbury Hospital, New Milford Hospital and Norwalk Hospital.

Chethan Sathya, M.D., a pediatric trauma surgeon and director of Northwell’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention noted, “In just the past few years, there has been a dire uptick in the number of children we’ve had to treat with gunshot wounds. It will take a collective effort to incorporate research, community outreach and new policies to spark change and curb gun access and violence that continues to be a danger to our youth.”

Among the speakers included in the event was Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy.  In a statement posted to his website, Murphy noted that “In the years since the tragedy in Sandy Hook, the gun violence epidemic in America has only worsened as countless families and communities continue to be torn apart by violence. The solutions are not a secret; we know that simple and broadly-supported measures like universal background checks, cracking down on straw purchasers and illegal weapon sales, and limiting access to high-capacity magazines and military-style assault weapons would save countless lives.”