Students and teachers from Baldwin High School meet with Northwell Health President and CEO Michael Dowling and other health system leaders, as well as gun violence safety advocate Fred Guttenberg, 3rd from right, standing, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the Parkland, FL school shooting.
High schoolers advocate gun safety solutions
Thalia Kontoleon is all too familiar with school lockdowns. The Baldwin High School student is hardly alone; active shooter drills are now as common as fire drills in most American schools, and she, along with her classmates, dread the thought of sending their parents an “I love you” text in the event of an active shooter situation.
“There’s no reason we should have to worry about that,” said Kontoleon, which is why she and three classmates at Baldwin (NY) High School created a research presentation on curbing gun violence, to enter into the “Medical Marvels” competition. Now in its tenth year and sponsored by The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Northwell Health’s Center for Workforce Readiness, the 2021 competition garnered projects from students in 18 schools across Nassau and Suffolk counties. A panel of scientists, clinicians and health care administrators evaluated the entries’ innovation, clarity, approach and measurement of success. In March 2021, the all-female team from Baldwin High — Thalia Kontoleon and Reyna Palmer, both freshmen at the time, and sophomores Jessica Darcy and Rochelle Saunders — found out they won.
For their winning project, the four classmates researched the death toll of gun violence, investigated the money involved in the firearms industry and explored the impact of gun violence in communities. Using that information plus what they learned from other countries’ successful gun-law reform efforts, they came up with proposed solutions that they projected would cut gun violence by 70 percent within 18 years.
Palmer pointed out that students’ anxiety and fear during lockdowns is usually over what might happen to their friends and family, not to themselves. But no one talks about students’ fears. “It’s not just the lives lost but the anxiety of all of us, and that students don’t feel safe coming to school.”
When the school experienced a recent lockdown — a real one — Kontoleon found herself thinking of this project and asking herself, “Where did that person get this gun?” Teammate Darcy said, “Our government is prioritizing gun ownership over basic human rights.”
“It goes beyond politics,” Kontoleon said. “We are not safe. There’s no reason for us to be scared when all we want to do is take our classes.”
In the moment of that lockdown, Palmer said, “You ask yourself, ‘What can I do? How can I help?’ This initiative gave us the opportunity to do that. This is how we can help.”
Preparing for the unthinkable
As demonstrated by the record 693 mass shootings that occurred in 2021, it’s clear that gun violence has no boundaries. That’s why it’s so important to prepare and educate the community about what to do if the unthinkable happens. Recognizing that health care workers want and need greater protection against workplace violence Northwell Health’s Corporate Security has provided active-shooter and de-escalation training to more than 5,500 health system employees since 2018. The training sessions were expanded to outside organizations in 2022.
“Stop the Bleed” is another valuable education and awareness program that gives civilian bystanders the necessary skills and tools to render aid to a bleeding trauma victim before first responders arrive at the scene. Since 2016, Northwell’s Trauma Institute and Community Relations teams have held more than 300 Stop the Bleed training sessions for community-based organizations, churches, school districts, government agencies and private employers, reaching over 24,000 people.