CeaseFire New Orleans: Hospital Crisis Intervention Team

Violence is a leading cause of injury, disability, and death.  Since 1979, New Orleans’ annual murder rate has consistently been seven to eight times higher than the national average.  Violence is also a significant health disparity.  In New Orleans, 93% of all murder victims are African American.  Furthermore, violence increases risk for a multitude of health and social problems and compounds disparities in chronic disease.

 CeaseFire New Orleans is an integral part of Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s comprehensive murder reduction strategy, NOLA for Life.  CeaseFire New Orleans is a public health approach to violence reduction that views violence as a disease that spreads from person to person based on experiences and learned behaviors, producing serious consequences for the well-being of seriously impacted communities.  CeaseFire New Orleans uses outreach workers/case workers and violence interrupters/hospital responders to detect and interrupt potentially violent situations and resolve them using a combination of science and street outreach.  CeaseFire staff members are trained public health workers and credible messengers, equipped to mediate conflicts between groups, preventing retaliations.

 The CeaseFire New Orleans Hospital Crisis Intervention Team is based in the LSU Interim Louisiana Hospital, the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the region, and provides services for all gunshot wound victims between the ages of 16 and 25 that come to the hospital.  Injury from gun violence frequently leads to imminent retaliatory violence.  CeaseFire New Orleans works to prevent such injury.  In order to help prevent injury from gun violence and assist in protecting the safety of individuals and the public, ILH provides access and information to CeaseFire New Orleans and in return CeaseFire New Orleans provides anti-violence services at ILH.  CeaseFire New Orleans provides immediate bedside response to individuals injured by gun violence at ILH and provide follow-up interventions and case management to help reduce the incidences of such injuries.