This year marks five years since Jamaica Hospital Medical Center first launched its Violence Elimination and Trauma Outreach (V.E.T.O.) program. The V.E.T.O. program is a hospital-based, multidisciplinary Hospital Violence Intervention Program designed to disrupt cycles of violence and promote healing.Beginning as a pilot in 2020-2021, under the leadership of Dr. Katherine McKenzie and the Director of Health Equity, Naa Djama, the program was started to serve victims of gun violence for over thirty days in collaboration with Care Management.
Currently, the V.E.T.O. program staff consists of a Trauma Counselor, a Care Coordinator, and a Peer-Ally Trauma Healing Coach who coordinate the delivery of comprehensive case management services to support the patient’s recovery. This team conducts risk assessments for community retaliation, offers counseling and grief support to patients and families, and connects them to essential community-based resources such as victim assistance applications, housing, education, employment, legal aid, nutrition, and mental health services. In development with the THRIVE Center, the VETO Program conducts monthly peer support groups led by the Peer Ally Trauma Healing Coach and the VETO Trauma Counselor. This support group aims to connect survivors with others who have overcome the challenge of recovery from a traumatic injury related to community violence and to keep survivors connected to accessible mental health services.
As the VETO Program predominantly serves a minority population that faces several health disparities and challenges, Jamaica Hospital recognizes the importance of providing victim services that are operated and led by and for the population served. The VETO program utilizes community partnerships with King of Kings Foundation and Life Camp Inc., both dispatch credible messengers to provide bedside crisis response and reduce retaliatory violence.
In April of 2025, Jamaica Hospital’s VETO program and its Mobile Crisis Department agreed to collaborate to provide immediate mental health services to patients who suffered a violent injury. This collaboration results in quicker response times during crises and facilitates expedited connections to ongoing mental health services through Jamaica Hospital’s Psychiatric Department.
The VETO Program goes beyond addressing patients’ medical needs; it also seeks to impact other factors related to gun violence in the community through outreach and education. The program actively engages in events that promote awareness, such as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. This year, on June 6th, the VETO Program celebrated Gun Violence Awareness Day by encouraging everyone to wear orange and inviting community members to a special event held in the main lobby of Jamaica Hospital.