OhioHealth Grant Medical Center Treats Increase in Young Victims of Violence

OhioHealth’s Grant Medical Center has seen a steady amount of gun violence victims from 2019 to 2022. One in six patients are between the ages of 15 – 19 years old. Being a Level 1 Trauma Center, Grant Medical Center has been treating the highest number of firearm injuries at the medical center.

Grant Trauma Medical Director, Urmil Pandya, MD, spoke with reporter Jamilah Muhammad from Spectrum News One. “Gunshot wounds are probably the sickest and have the highest likelihood of requiring surgery,” Dr. Pandya said “The highest likelihood of requiring ICU level of care. The highest likelihood of requiring blood products.” 

Dr. Pandya tells Muhammad that although 90 percent of patients survive gunshot wounds, there can be lasting, impactful, mental effects. 

“Many of these folks will have significant injuries that will alter their lives forever. Patients may be paralyzed. (They) may have a terrible brain injury. They may have a debilitation that will last through life.” Dr. Pandya mentions that gun violence effects may not be just physical. Victims may develop post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

“Things that will help these patients recover, assimilate back into society, and decrease the psychological mental toll that can occur post injury,” said Dr.Pandya “To really educate them and find ways to get you the safe. We need to prevent this rather than treat it after that happens.”

To learn more about OhioHealth’s trauma care, click here. Emergency and Trauma Care | OhioHealth