CLEVELAND — As a level one trauma center, Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center sees all kinds of emergencies, from car accidents, to industrial injuries.
However, one type of violence is reaching extreme proportions, according to the hospital's outgoing CEO.
"Gunfire is mostly not accidental, so we see a lot of that," says Dr. Akram Boutros. "I've looked in the eyes of a mom who has lost a seven-year-old child. That pain I saw in her eyes will never go away."
Boutros believes that gun violence in the city is out of control and becoming a crisis. "The number of gunshot wounds, the number of people killed. Just horrific statistics."
And those statistics change neighborhoods and families, while adding toxic stress.
In the first six months of this year, there have been 327 shootings in the city of Cleveland
The majority of victims are African Americans. If you break it down further, women make up 20% of the victims, while most shooting victims range in age from 18 to 24.
Dr. Boutros says when he retires as CEO of the MetroHealth System in four months, he wants to open up a national center to reduce gun violence
"I'm not looking to do policy," he explains. "What I'm looking to do is find programs that have an absolute effect and reduce the amount of people who buy a gun, pick up a gun, use a gun, and settle their argument with a gun."
But he can't do it alone. Dr. Boutros says he is looking for help from major companies and other institutions, including from the city of Cleveland.
"We are going to work closely with him as a council," says Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin. "But I want all of the hospitals to take his lead."
And before Boutros leaves MetroHealth, he says he wants to have a plan in place. The former New Yorker is committed to Cleveland and change. As in change the gun violence in the city he says before its too late
"This has to stop. It's our Achilles heel in Cleveland," he adds. "We have so much going for us and if we don't resolve this, we are not going to get anywhere."
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