In the wake of recent shootings, healthcare executives are calling for gun safety and changes to address gun violence.
This includes executives from New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Minneapolis-based Children's Minnesota, who joined business leaders across the U.S. in urging the Senate to pass legislation on the issue.
"The gun violence epidemic represents a public health crisis that continues to devastate communities — especially Black and brown communities — and harm our national economy," the leaders wrote in a letter sent to lawmakers June 9 from CEOs for Gun Safety. "All of this points to a clear need for action: the Senate must take urgent action to pass bold gun safety legislation as soon as possible in order to avoid more death and injury."
Separately, the CEOs of 10 Minnesota health systems have declared gun violence a public health crisis in a joint statement June 8 and are collaborating on gun violence solutions.
The efforts come as shootings have occurred on a hospital campus in Tulsa, Okla., at a school in Uvalde, Texas, and a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., in recent weeks. There have also been other violent events in recent weeks at healthcare facilities.
The following healthcare executives signed the letter to lawmakers:
- Richard Isaacs, MD, CEO and executive director, The Permanente Medical Group, president and CEO, The MidAtlantic Permanente Medical Group, PC, Kaiser Permanente
- Michael Dowling, president and CEO, Northwell Health
- Marc Gorelick, MD, president and CEO, Children's Minnesota
The following Minnesota healthcare executives are collaborating on solutions:
- Lisa Shannon, PhD, president and CEO of Allina Health (Minneapolis)
- Marc Gorelick, MD, president and CEO of Children's Minnesota (Minneapolis)
- James Hereford, president and CEO of Fairview Health Services (Minneapolis)
- Jennifer DeCubellis, CEO of Hennepin Healthcare (Minneapolis)
- J. Kevin Croston, MD, CEO of North Memorial Health (Robbinsdale)
- Kenneth Holmen, MD, president and CEO of CentraCare (St. Cloud)
- David Herman, MD, CEO of Essentia Health (Duluth)
- Barbara Joers, president and CEO of Gillette Children's (St. Paul)
- Andrea Walsh, president and CEO HealthPartners (Bloomington)
- Bill Gassen, president and CEO of Sanford Health (Sioux Falls, S.D., with locations in Minnesota)