OSF joins gun safety movement to address firearms as leading cause of child death

PEORIA – Guns are the leading cause of death for kids, with statistics showing 13 children die from guns each day in the United States. To help address this crisis and encourage parents to take action by asking about gun safety, OSF HealthCare has joined more than 170 other health care organizations in a nationwide public awareness and education campaign. It will highlight the fact that access to unlocked guns can lead to death, suicide and gun violence, making it more likely that children die from guns than cancer or automobile accidents.
“It’s important for health care systems like OSF HealthCare to engage in preventive medicine,” said Kurt Bloomstrand, MD, EMS medical director for East Central Illinois EMS and an emergency medicine physician for OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana, Illinois.