As gun violence continues to rise across the country — now accounting for 20 percent of childhood deaths — Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio is taking a nontraditional approach to reducing it in communities: with the use of virtual reality technology, according to ABC affiliate WCPO.
The hospital has been using VR technology in other capacities for some time to improve surgical planning and patient outcomes. Now, its new Gun Violence Prevention Counseling Virtual Reality program will assist physicians in navigating conversations about gun safety and storage with patients and families.
Not only are more U.S. children dying from gun violence than ever before, they're also able to access firearms at what is to some a surprising rate.
"A striking statistic to me is that many of those children have actually handled firearm[s] without their parents' knowledge," Joe Real, MD, a general pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's, told WCPO regarding data from the New England Journal of Medicine.
The hospital worked with Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Gun Violence Prevention to launch the VR initiative at Cincinnati Children's. It incorporates the technology to focus on and demonstrate "safe storage techniques, including unloading firearms, using gun locks, putting the firearms in a secured location and keeping ammunition separate," WCPO reported.
Dr. Real told the news outlet that "safe storage is something we know can save lives," and that as it is a growing threat to public health, gun safety should routinely be talked about in clinical care.
The program at Cincinnati Children's is currently being rolled out, and the platform is also accessible via Zoom if VR technology is not available.