Dear Familia:
It has been a rough week. Having this tragedies happening on a frequent bases is just impossible not to ponder the questions: What can we actually do?
The first part is making sure that you have the tools as a provider to engage in the conversation, especially for children. One natural or human disasters happens, children directly or indirectly are the most vulnerable.
Please watch this video and feel free to share it:
Video on how to talk with children (this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT; these tools can help our parents with these difficult conversations): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KANprqSTX2k
Here is a pediatric disaster toolkit: https://www.rchsd.org/documents/2017/10/pediatric-preparedness-resource-kit-american-academy-of-pediatrics.pdf/
For more information from the American Academy of Pediatrics, please follow the next links (In Spanish and English):
https://www.healthychildren.org/spanish/safety-prevention/all-around/paginas/where-we-stand-gun-safety.aspx
https://www.healthychildren.org/spanish/safety-prevention/at-home/paginas/handguns-in-the-home.aspx
Here you will find 2 Spanish only videos about coping with trauma and how to talk with your children about this tragedies:
1) https://youtu.be/myrDI2J8Je0
2) https://youtu.be/xGN0HTnyyBQ
Also adding some information from the Pew Research Center, highlighting the increased death rates by murder or suicide by guns and including active shooter events in the US.
Community Organization like AltaMed Health Services and the American Academy of Pediatrics are aligned to share information for our communities.
If you have questions on how to start this conversations or you have any ideas (or questions that you have gotten from families) please do feel free to connect with me.
Dr Shap's 