Cradle to Grave: Philly Hospital Targets Gun Violence

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 14, 2007 — -- Just before 1 a.m. on a recent night in the city, an ambulance rushed a man to Temple University Hospital's trauma ward. As paramedics rolled him in through the sliding emergency room doors, he screams, "I've been shot... He shot me, man!"

Medics quickly let doctors and nurses know the man's vital signs and confirm the patient's diagnosis: "Single gunshot wound."

Trauma surgeons and nurses race to save the man's life. X-rays show the man may have internal injuries. He was rushed to surgery.

In Philadelphia, gun violence is disturbingly routine -- almost every day, several times a day, somebody gets shot.

Last year, more than 500 gunshot wound victims were brought to Temple University Hospital. Trauma surgeons have grown weary of the carnage.

Temple's chief trauma surgeon Dr. Amy Goldberg wants to do more than simply treat the wounds that roll in each night. She wants to stop the violence.

"Seeing these young kids get shot and die, night after night after night, it made me realize that there is so much more that I felt we were obligated to do than just give our medical care," Goldberg said.

Goldberg has teamed up with Scott Charles, trauma outreach coordinator for the hospital, to create a program called "Cradle to the Grave." Together, they bring at-risk youth to the emergency room and demonstrate to them -- in graphic detail -- what getting shot is really all about.

Charles said that extreme violence has become routine for many of the young people in Philadelphia. "I think getting shot for a lot of young men in these neighborhoods becomes a rite of passage," he said. "This is part of being a teenager, growing up in this neighborhood, 'It's happened to friends I know and it's bound to happen to me.'"

A group of about 20 young people gathered outside the emergency room at Temple University Hospital on a recent afternoon. Most of them have been identified as at-risk kids, referred to the program by schools, county government or the courts system.