June 16, 2025
Howard College hosted its fifth Annual Victors Over Violence Award Ceremony at Howard College Hospital.
On Could 30, Howard College hosted its fifth Annual Victors Over Violence Award Ceremony at Howard College Hospital, an occasion that honors survivors of traumatic violence in addition to the healthcare groups that assist them, the occasion additionally capabilities as a therapeutic area for the bigger Washington, D.C., neighborhood.
Howard College’s hospital has been designated a Stage I Trauma Heart and treats roughly 40,000 sufferers a yr by means of its emergency division, nevertheless it additionally holds area for trauma surgeons, nurses, psychological well being advocates, and a violence intervention and prevention unit that gives wraparound care extending from the neighborhood to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
In line with a press launch from Howard College, a number of the scars survivors carry don’t ever heal, as one honoree, Derrick Scott, made clear in his remarks on the ceremony. “The ache doesn’t depart—you simply study to stay with it,” Scott mentioned. “I misplaced my finest buddy. Every single day I carry that ache. However I’m nonetheless right here. And I’m nonetheless preventing.”
Kenyatta Hazlewood, BSN, MPH, RN, and the operational officer of the Trauma Program who hosts the ceremony, mentioned within the press launch that Scott’s story is central to why the hospital is dedicated to honoring the entire victims of traumatic violence, together with, however not restricted to, gun violence.
“This division is about greater than saving lives—it’s about constructing them again up,” Hazlewood mentioned. “Derrick’s story reminds us why trauma work should embrace each the physique and the soul.”
In line with Dr. Alexander Evans, though the healthcare group’s preliminary objective is to deal with the affected person that comes into the hospital, their subsequent objective entails the neighborhood that the affected person belongs to, together with folks like Scott, who could also be coping with survivor’s guilt.
“The primary objective is at all times to avoid wasting a life,” Evans mentioned within the press launch. “However what comes after—the emotional, psychological, and religious therapeutic—that’s the place the actual restoration begins. Each affected person carries their harm in another way. Some want surgical procedures. Some want silence. All of them want assist.”
Scott, in the meantime, opened up concerning the wounds that those that stay carry inside them, the injuries that medication and surgical procedures can’t probably hope to heal.
“Not everyone walks away from it,” Scott mentioned. “I misplaced my buddy that night time. I give it some thought each day. A few of us are nonetheless in it. A few of us try to run from it. However one of the simplest ways by means of is to face it, to speak about it, and to search out individuals who gained’t allow you to surrender.”
Along with Scott, the hospital additionally honored 22-year-old Rayne Bradshaw, who was paralyzed as the results of a mass capturing. Bradshaw was not in a position to attend the ceremony, however the employees, like Hazlewood, praised her braveness and her progress as she undergoes remedy to get better bodily.
In line with Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, the president of Howard College Hospital, Scott’s story emphasizes the necessity for traumatic violence to be seen and handled as a public well being disaster.
“After we speak about trauma, we’re not simply speaking about gunshot wounds or automobile accidents—we’re speaking concerning the persistent, layered affect of violence on total communities. Meaning exhibiting up for survivors not solely once they arrive in disaster, however lengthy after they’ve been discharged.”
He concluded, “Therapeutic doesn’t occur in a single surgical procedure. It’s a course of, and it requires neighborhood. Occasions like this luncheon remind us that the folks we look after are greater than instances. Whenever you see somebody like Derrick come again stronger, it’s a reminder of the affect we are able to have when trauma care is steady, compassionate, and community-based.”
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