Montgomery's rising crime has a ripple effect throughout the city, and members of the healthcare community are sounding the alarm over the impact increased gun violence is having on staff and resources.
In recent months, the cases of innocent bystanders being injured or killed by random violence have stirred significant community outrage.
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Crowds at the Montgomery City Council meetings have grown, with residents expressing their dismay at the level of violent crime in the city.
While city officials continue to point fingers, members of the community are feeling increasingly unheard by their city government.
An often-overlooked group impacted by the rising gun violence in the city is the hospitals and medical community.
"The main thing is we're seeing a huge increase in gun violence," Mullins said. "The gun violence is also changing. We're seeing more and more drive-bys lately. We're seeing more injuries by the assault weapons, which are basically the AR-15s and the AK-47s. It's just sort of exploded."
He continued, "The thing is, all major traumas require a whole lot of resources. The gunshots, many of them are major and require activation of the trauma system at the hospital, which brings all sorts of people away from other activities they're trying to accomplish. When you have a couple of them come in at the same time, especially for the size hospital we are, it creates a lot of chaos. It just uses up so many resources. On the really bad ones, we use 20, 30 units of blood. So that's 20, 30 donations that we can't use for other injuries because we do get a lot of car injuries with I-65 and I-85 intersecting in the city."
According to Mullins, when the hospital's trauma alert sounds off, designated employees are obligated to respond, which takes them away from their day-to-day duties and causes already stretched-thin resources to spread even thinner.
"The ER pharmacist and the respiratory therapist are good examples," Mullins said. "Their normal duties are completely stopped at that point. And they have to come there in the room and they do everything that we need them to do, so it delays care for other patients. So, when 20% of your trauma victims are from gunshot wounds, if you can decrease that amount of violence, then, of course, it helps everybody involved. Nurses, of course, have to come in and help, and ER doctors as well. They could all be treating other patients. This leads to extended ER times because it takes these people away from other patient care.
The rise in gunshot wounds has also been draining blood and plasma supplies for transfusions.
"So, if it hits certain areas, it can cause severe, severe bleeding, and that's when we use massive transfusion protocol boxes where we have units of blood, plasma, and all that stuff," Mullins said. "So you're essentially replacing the person's entire blood volume at that point."
Mullins also said that the ages of shooting victims continue to be lower and lower while the racial disparity of victims remains majority black.
"We're getting more and more teenagers," Mullins explained. "We're getting several pre-teens over the past several years that have been shot. It's just getting out of hand.
"This really is an issue that continues to affect the poor community and the black community. So, the leaders in the black community. So, the leaders in the black community are really going to have to get involved in this, and the civic leaders and the church leaders to help bridge any racial gap."
Mullins continued, "I don't know about the staffing in the ER, but I know there's a lot of turnover. A lot of it has to do with pay, so how much of it is due to pay and how much is due to the increased violence and harder work. I'm not sure about that. But all hospitals across the country are having issues with employees, and our hospital is very short."
Mullins said solutions from the city have been in short supply while hospital administration continues to try to fill holes in its staffing. Mullins suggested studying other cities that have cut down on violent crime and implementing effective policies from those areas.
"This should be first and foremost all the time for the city at this point, and it just doesn't seem like it is," Mullins said.
"I think that the DA's office needs to continue to press for maximum sentences for these crimes. Daryl Bailey has done a very good job and should get credit," he concluded.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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