Through trauma-responsive, culturally congruent, and whole person-centered care, over the last year, the Bullet Related Injury Clinic (BRIC) has provided support to nearly 150 patients that have been impacted by violence. As one-half of patients who experience Bullet Related Injury (BRI) are discharged directly from the Emergency Department (ED) to self-care, the BRIC pilot was structured to provide self-care support for ambulatory management of BRI.

The BRIC started as a self-care program but ended as a clinical practice.

Although the BRIC initially planned to engage 100 patients from BJH and DePaul in a largely virtual platform to support self-care, over the last year the clinic has engaged nearly 200 patients with in-person visits and expanded its services to fill a critical gap in the system through the provision of a substantial amount of clinical care.

Pilot Highlights

  • The BRIC has provided nearly 600 visits over the duration of the year
  • 84 percent of patients who met the inclusion criteria and had phone access enrolled
  • 77 percent of patients completed multiple visits to the clinic, with patients visiting an average of three times

In addition to the data demonstrating The BRIC’s capacity to engage a “hard to reach population” with both clinical and self-care support, community partners have found The BRIC’s services and impact to be invaluable.

Kateri Chapman-Kramer, Project Manager at the St. Louis Area Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (STL-HVIP), sums the impact of the program perfectly:

The Bullet Related Injury Clinic (BRIC) is absolutely essential to the St. Louis Region. Particularly for underserved (uninsured, underinsured) victims of violence, the BRIC represents just and human care for many individuals that often do not receive needed physical and mental follow-up after violent injury. It is unique in that there is welcome space to answer questions in a community-setting that many individuals and their families are afraid to ask, or simply do not ask, in a typical medical setting. The holistic model of the BRIC treats the entire person – and further the entire community. This type of approach is what is needed to continue to heal community violence in our region. I cannot speak enough to how thankful Life Outside of Violence (LOV) is to be a partner with the BRIC!”

For more information about The BRIC and its impact, visit thebric.org.

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