LifeBridge Health Community Violence Cessation

Lifebridge Health is requesting funding for Center for Hope, which houses its Community Violence Cessation programs in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Center for Hope programs include Safe Streets dispute mediation and violence prevention, Child Advocacy Center response to child sexual abuse, exploitation and exposure to violence, DOVE (domestic violence response program at Northwest Hospital), and the Violence Response Teams at Sinai Hospital and Grace Medical Center. This response to multiple forms of trauma is not traditionally found in a health care setting and is the first of its kind in the nation. Center for Hope serves more than 5,000 clients annually and offers crisis intervention, counseling, case management, advocacy and support services, forensic interviews and medical exams, mediation, safety planning, emergency shelter, and bed-side visits.

Sinai Hospital serves a very high-risk population in Southern Park Heights—the neighborhood directly adjacent to the hospital south of Northern Parkway—where poverty (mediant income is $26,015), high unemployment rates (23.6%), and low educational attainment (only 9.2% of residents have a bachelor’s degree or more) create multiple obstacles to both wellness and access to care for a large percentage of patients.[1] The life expectancy in Southern Park Heights is 69.6 years compared to 73.8 years for Baltimore City and 81.3 years for residents of Mt. Washington, just two miles north.[2] More than 15% of African Americans in Baltimore City report having an unmet medical need in the last 12 months.[3] Northwest Hospital, which houses the Domestic Violence (DOVE) Program is located in Randallstown, Maryland, in Baltimore County, just over the city-county line.

Funding will support three new positions: Director of Clinical Services, Data Manager, and Operations Coordinator. The expected outcome for this program is increased capacity of the Center for Hope to serve victims of community violence in Baltimore City and Northwest Baltimore. The new positions will enable Center for Hope to serve an increased patient volume, particularly around mental health, as well as in all community violence services. Additionally, the new Data Manager will enable Center for Hope to more accurately assess the impact of its programs through statistical analysis and data reporting.

[1] 2017 Neighborhood Health Profile: Southern Park Heights. https://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/NHP%202017%20-%205…

[2] Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance of the Jacob France Institute. Retrieved on 9/28/16 from http://bniajfi.org/indicators/Children%20and%20Family%20Health/LifeExp/.

[3] Healthy Baltimore 2015. Baltimore City Health Department. Retrieved on 9/24/16 from http://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/HealthyBaltimore201….