Join AHA June 2 for #HAVhope Friday: A National Day of Awareness to End Violence

AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence Initiative (HAV) will mark its seventh annual #HAVhope Friday on June 2. This national day of awareness highlights how America’s hospitals and health systems continue to seek partnerships, innovations and creative thinking to foster peace and combat violence in their workplaces and communities.

Violence is one of the nation’s major public health and safety issues, both in our communities and workplaces. #HAVhope unites hospitals, health systems, nurses, doctors and other professionals from across the country, as well as the local and national organizations they work with, to raise awareness of violence using digital media. The AHA invites hospitals and health systems to share using #HAVhope what they are doing in this effort. By operating as a united front, our hospitals can forge a path for all to have hope.

As part of these efforts, AHA joins in the promotion of the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act (H.R. 2584), proposed federal legislation to give health care workers the same legal protections against assault and intimidation that flight crews and airport workers have under federal law. Ensuring a safe and secure environment for our workforce is essential to providing quality care to the patients and communities we serve.

The AHA also has made several resources available, including a digital toolkit to spotlight your commitment to mitigate violence in your community and workplace.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Share your hospitals efforts to fight and prevent violence in the community and use #HAVhope on social media. Encourage others that stand against workplace and community violence to participate. Please feel free to use our graphics or adapt them for your own organization. You can download our digital tools and resources here. Please use the hashtag #HAVhope and consider tagging the AHA (@ahahospitals).
   
• Join AHA and ask Congress to support the #SAVE Act, a bill that offers the same legal protections to health care professionals that aircraft and airport professionals currently have, including criminal prosecutions for those who physically attack health care workers while they are performing their duties. You can download our digital tools and resources here.
   
• Share a photo in your workplace or community of those who are committed to combating violence, ideally holding the HAVhope sign.
   
• Share this information with your senior leadership team, board, government relations and communications teams and encourage engagement in this effort.
   

Visit AHA’s HAVhope webpage to access logo, graphics, digital toolkits, videos and other resources to promote #HAVHope and the Save Act.

Visit the Hospitals Against Violence landing page to learn more about our efforts across four areas: 1) workforce and workplace violence prevention; 2) combating human trafficking; 3) supporting victims and communities of mass violence incidents; and 4) public health approach to addressing gun violence.

FURTHER QUESTIONS

For more information or questions, please contact Emily Gustafson, AHA’s vice president of digital strategy and public education, at egustafson@aha.org.