Tito: Trauma services not helping all in need
Mayoral candidate Tito Jackson said the city needs to examine if its trauma services for people affected by shootings are reaching all residents after blasting police for failing to address violent hot spots the night before.
“When we hear someone was on the street for six shootings and the only thing people received were fliers, that is very difficult to hear,” Jackson, the city councilor for Roxbury, said at a council meeting yesterday. “I was actually at two of those incidents, there was not a comprehensive trauma response.”
Jackson slammed Boston police Commissioner William B. Evans at a Tuesday night meeting for how cops have handled the investigation into the shooting of a Roxbury 6-year-old, the Herald reported yesterday, and has criticized the department as touting reduced crime across the city while violence is on the rise in certain areas.
And Jackson said he’s heard from residents that trauma teams responding to those calls don’t always respond quickly.
“This is vital,” Jackson said. “It touches a bunch of people across the city.”
The city has four neighborhood trauma response teams in Dorchester, East Boston, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury that reach out to residents after violence in their communities. Boston Public Health Commission spokeswoman Marjorie Nesin said the teams are looking to improve their services.
“We are deeply committed to providing trauma response services to all Boston residents, particularly those communities that have been disproportionately impacted by violence,” Nesin said. “Our goal is to improve the system of trauma services that we deliver to ensure a continuum of care from response to recovery services.”
The trauma teams are managed by BPHC and funded through city dollars and grants, and are made up of community-based organizations partnering with health care providers.