Supporting Victims and Communities of Mass Violence Incidents

Supporting Victims and Communities of Mass Violence Incidents. Paramedics taking a patient from an ambulance into the emergency department. Coworkers comfort a victim of violence. Paramedics remove a patient from an ambulance on the way into the emergency department. People hold burning candles as they participate in a vigil.

The AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative is proud to partner with the National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center (NMVVRC) to provide resources and support surrounding incidents of mass violence for the communities and patients served by our hospitals and health systems. Established in 2017 in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), NMVVRC strives to establish best practices to achieve a social understanding of mass violence upon which civic leaders, health care professionals, journalists, policy makers and victim assistance professionals can rely.

The vision is to provide communities access to evidence-based information and resources needed to effectively prepare for and respond to mass violence incidents.

Blog: Mass Violence Is a Public Health Crisis

Mass Violence Is a Public Health Crisis Blog Image

Mass violence and domestic terrorism comprise a major public health crisis in America.

It is a crisis that strikes at our most basic and collective sense of humanity. It is a crisis that repeats on a now regular basis in communities large and small across America. And it is a crisis that has literally struck fear in the lives of countless people, as indicated by a Gallup poll conducted in 2019, which found that nearly half of Americans fear that they or a family member will be a victim of a mass shooting.