Education: The Mediating Factor in Gun Violence?

Some ideas to turn this belief into reality:

1. Create position statements and recommendations for our licensing and professional certifying bodies to share with their membership.
2. Include mandates for communicating those recommendations during certification and relicensing.
3. Employ district staff or contracted consulting medical and psychologic evaluators for review of public school students with health and behavioral diagnoses.
4. Partner better with schools from the community health, pediatrician, behavioral health, and primary care settings. Kennedy Krieger Institute has partnered with schools in Baltimore—can this be replicated elsewhere?
5. Every child enters school with a need for health clearance and a “Guardian Permission Contact Card.” Perhaps we can expand this to develop a process for results of routine assessments to be shared, for the safety and welfare of the child.
6. Teach individuals to cope effectively with the anxiety and distress fed by constant exposure to the Internet and social media. This can—and should—be done through multiple venues: religious and social groups and the workplace.
7. Inform the public with PowerPoint presentations and seminars, advertising what to look for and where to get help for concerning behaviors; again, this can be done through multiple portals. This, I believe, may also help defuse tensions between parents and schools surrounding children with health and educational differences.
8. Have professional health associations deliver a cohesive message to our legislators for gun control, funding for research, and mental and public health.

Dr. Onieal, you are correct in saying that this epidemic of mass shootings is a public health issue. It is a threat as serious as HIV, cancer, lead poisoning, hypertension, and diabetes. We must find a way to stop this epidemic.

Diane Page, RN, MSN, ARNP-C
Sanford, FL