CentraCare CEO Signs Statement Calling Gun Related Violence a Public Health Crisis

(KNSI) — St. Cloud-based CentraCare is among several health organizations calling the recent spate of shootings a public health crisis.

CentraCare CEO Dr. Ken Holmen is joining the CEOs of Allina, Children’s Minnesota, Essentia Health, Fairview, Gillette Children’s, HealthPartners, Hennepin Healthcare, North Memorial, and Sanford Health in issuing a statement saying it’s time to work together “to prevent the deaths of innocent people of all ages and backgrounds.”

The statement cited the recent mass shootings at a health campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and Tops Grocery Store in Buffalo, New York, which all happened within the last month. Thirty-five people died in those shootings.

Calling the statistics surrounding gun-related deaths “appalling” and the impacts of it “horrific and preventable,” the health care organizations are saying they will be collaborating to “take action on the development of solutions to prevent gun violence and advance important conversations on reforms to protect patients, employees and communities.”

As leaders of some of our state’s health care systems, we believe it is time to declare gun violence as a public health crisis and to work to prevent the deaths of innocent people of all ages and backgrounds. We must look no further than the recent shootings on a hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at a school in Uvalde, Texas, a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and countless others just this past year to see its devastating impacts.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, more than 19,000 American lives were lost due to homicide involving a gun. That same year, guns became the leading cause of death for children and teenagers. These statistics are appalling and outrage us as health care providers and should outrage us all. Everyone deserves a world where they can feel safe and live their lives without fear of gun violence.

Gun violence and its horrific impacts are preventable. It has reached epidemic levels and represents a significant threat to public health.

As health care providers, we see the impacts of gun violence firsthand every day. We uniquely understand the devastation of this violence in our hospitals and clinics and the toll it takes on individuals, families, communities, and the care providers who treat the victims. We have an important role to play in creating a safer future for all.

We will continue to be fierce advocates for the safety of our employees, patients, and the communities we serve, inside and outside our hospital and clinic walls. By formally declaring gun violence as the public health crisis that it is, we will collectively seek the solutions required to save lives and stem the tide of violence.

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