San Antonio Metro Health Expands A Public Health Approach To Violence Prevention

Press release from the City of San Antonio:

December 9, 2020

SAN ANTONIO — Today, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) provided an update to the San Antonio City Council on the new Violence Prevention Section and the increased focus on a public health approach to preventing violence.

“Violence is a leading cause of premature death in our community,” said Dr. Colleen Bridger, Assistant City Manager, City of San Antonio. “The new section places violence prevention on equal footing with other important contributors to the health and safety of our community.”

In 2019, San Antonio lost 159 people to homicide, of which 27 were considered family violence and 261 people to suicide. Additionally, there were 5,373 cases of confirmed child abuse.

The purpose of the Metro Health Violence Prevention section is to stop violence from happening before it starts by building equitable, empowered communities that can heal past harms and grow safe futures. The section includes three pillars: Gun Violence Prevention, Domestic Violence Prevention, and Child and Youth Violence Prevention, all of which received additional staff and funding in the FY 2021 City of San Antonio budget. Stand Up SA, previously a part-time program on the Eastside has moved all staff to full time and will be adding Westside and Hospital-Based teams. Additionally, twenty civilian SAPD Crisis Response Team Community Service Specialists were transferred from SAPD to Metro Health to support an integrated approach to violence prevention.

The new section unifies the work of the South Texas Trauma-Informed Care Consortium and the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence, supporting a life course perspective that addresses the roots of violence and identifies strategies to stop violence in the future and serve survivors today.

This press release was produced by the City of San Antonio. The views expressed here are the author’s own.