As child health professionals, all of us at Dartmouth Health Children’s know that gun violence threatens the health and safety of all children and families, and we believe that we must unite as Americans across the socio-political spectrum to address it.
Keith J. Loud, MDDartmouth Health Children’s has joined a coalition of over 20 leading national healthcare organizations to launch a campaign developed by the Ad Council addressing the gun violence crisis facing America’s youth. “Agree to Agree” unites gun owners and non-gun owners alike, building from the common ground we all share to protect our children from firearm injuries and death.
“As child health professionals, all of us at Dartmouth Health Children’s know that gun violence threatens the health and safety of all children and families, and we believe that we must unite as Americans across the socio-political spectrum to address it,” said Dartmouth Health Children’s physician-in-chief Keith J. Loud, MD. “We’re proud—as a member of the Children’s Hospital Association—to be one of the first children’s hospitals to participate in this ambitious effort to help people across the country have this discussion.”
In the new campaign, one of the public service announcements showcases real kids and their parents uniting to help adults recognize there’s no debate that children and teens should be protected from firearm violence. The PSA directs viewers to AgreeToAgree.org, where individuals can learn about gun violence and how they can take action in their homes and communities to prevent firearm injury and death.
Another PSA in the series features healthcare professionals speaking directly to other clinicians on their unique role in preventing firearm injuries through collaborative conversations with their patients. The video instructs healthcare professionals to visit AgreeToAgree.org/HealthCare for resources on how to have collaborative gun violence prevention dialogue with families.
For more information on the “Agree to Agree” effort and to access resources such as conversation guides and shareable graphics that educate and encourage audiences to take individual steps to protect communities and children, visit AgreeToAgree.org.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital, the Golisano Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Health, and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.
About Dartmouth Health Children's
Dartmouth Health Children’s is the most comprehensive pediatric healthcare system in the region and the first integrative medicine children’s health system in the country. Dartmouth Health Children’s is fully integrated in Dartmouth Health and anchored in Lebanon, NH, by Dartmouth Health’s Golisano Children’s Hospital (also a member of the nationwide Golisano Children’s Alliance): home of the highest acuity neonatal intensive care unit and only pediatric intensive care unit in New Hampshire, along with the only adolescent medical-psychiatry unit in northern New England. Through a unique partnership with the state of New Hampshire at Hampstead Hospital, Dartmouth Health Children’s also provides the state’s only inpatient psychiatric care for children and adolescents. Dartmouth Health Children’s advances knowledge through groundbreaking research and education as the primary pediatric partner of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and delivers the best patient- and family-centered care for infants, children, and adolescents in a range of settings across New Hampshire and Vermont. Outpatient specialty visits and same-day surgery services are available at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics in Manchester, NH, with pediatric primary care at nearly every Dartmouth Health member location.