BWHers Participate in "Do No Harm"
Campaign to Stop Cycle of Violence
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month, a time when
many people across the country are reflecting on intimate partner violence and
what they can do about it.
National statistics about domestic violence are alarming. One in
four women has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime, and three out of
four people personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic
violence.
Decreasing that number is something that Idalia Carrasco, MSW,
LICSW, strives for every day as a patient advocate at Southern Jamaica Plain
Health Center and program manager for BWH Passageway, which seeks to improve
the health, well-being and safety of those experiencing abuse from an intimate
partner. Carrasco provides support to survivors of domestic violence and shares
resources with those living in unsafe environments.
"I believe that we all can play a role in bringing awareness
to this social issue that often lives in the shadows," said Carrasco, who
has worked at Passageway for nine years.
Employees throughout Brigham and Women's Hospital and Brigham and
Women's Faulkner Hospital are also raising domestic violence awareness by
participating in a campaign called "Do No
Harm."
The campaign features frontline staff, hospital leadership and
patients holding a sign that reads "Do No Harm" and sharing their own
personal messages of hope and inspiration.
In addition, employees can stop by information tables on the
second floor mezzanine, across from Shop on the Pike, to fill out a pledge card
that reads, "These Hands Do No Harm." The cards will be on display
through the end of October.
Last year alone, Passageway staff provided intervention and
services to more than 1,200 people throughout BWH and its distributed campus
and in the community, said Mardi Chadwick, JD, director of Violence
Intervention and Prevention Programs in the BWH Center for Community Health and
Health Equity.
"Domestic violence is a public health issue that must be
treated through both our intervention and prevention efforts," said
Chadwick. "Raising awareness is the first step to ending the devastating
cycle of violence we experience in our lives and in our communities. It is a
disease that impacts us all, and therefore we all must be part of the
solution."
In addition, the Center for Community Health and Health Equity is
hosting a series of events this month to honor survivors of domestic violence
and provide additional information and support.