Tackling Gun Violence: Inside the trauma units of Hartford's biggest hospitals

It is a common scene at trauma centers in Harford: patients rushed in with gunshot wounds.

“We're pulling staff from the emergency room to come in care for that patient, our trauma team responds,” Taylor Fusco-Ruiz, Saint Francis Trauma Program nurse manager, said.

It often prompts an all-hands-on-deck response.

“At any one time during the resuscitation, there might be upwards of 10 to 12 people sometimes,” Dr. Jonathan Gates, Harford Hospital chief of trauma, said.

There were 125 gun-related injuries in Hartford, according to police. Of those, 97 were non-fatal and 28 were deadly.

Although police say gun violence is down from levels the capital city saw during pandemic-years, most of those gunshot victims end up in a trauma unit at one of Harford’s two biggest hospitals: Hartford Hospital or Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center.

“On a weekend, sometimes we have anywhere from five to 10,” Gates said. “Our hope was that that would pass by as COVID dissolved into history. And unfortunately, the gun violence has continued.”

While both Level 1 trauma centers are equipped with the infrastructure and specialized medical staff to absorb an influx of gunshot wound victims, these cases can put a strain on resources.

“It definitely pulls. Every time we have an add trauma activation, we have resources coming from all different departments,” Fusco-Ruiz said. “If it's our highest level of activation, we have folks from the operating room, respiratory therapy. So it kind of puts a pause on did it on whatever is occurring at that moment.”

They are life-saving efforts that often pay off, but cannot always be a success.

“A lot of those patients were able to make their way home, but a lot of times they don't,” Fusco-Ruiz said.

These medical professionals say that they are trained to focus on saving lives and to compartmentalize tragedy. Yet they are not immune to emotional reactions.

“I can speak for myself, it does take a toll, there’s no question about it, seeing these patients come in day in and day out,” Gates said.

They say persistent gun violence comes with an emotional cost.

“It can be really impactful, especially, we unfortunately have had a lot of younger patients lately come in. You can't always prepare for that,” Fusco-Ruiz said.

It is why there are support systems set up for the medical staff.

“We've had times where we've held weekly debriefs,” Fusco-Ruiz said. “If there's a really hard case, we're checking in with our team members, we're providing any resources that we can to our staff.”

Both hospitals are also working to be part of the solution, utilizing hospital-based interventionists.

“Having people that can be that middleman between the community and between the hospital is so important,” Fusco-Ruiz said.

Those specialists provide support for the patient bedside, speak with the family and after discharge, they connect the victim with partner organizations in the community.

Efforts to stem a cyclical problem, and save lives.

“The more we interact with these patients in try to understand what the root cause of these problems are, the more we get involved in those solutions,” Gates said. “We do know that this is a preventable problem.”