NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health hosted a community conversation on the public health issue of gun violence.  

Today’s panel consisted of health officials, New York City gun czar A.T. Mitchell, and Chief of Department for the NYPD Jeffrey Maddey.  

NYC Health + Hospitals said in its 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment that nearly 50% of all patients in the health system who are impacted by violence are African American.  

“As a hospital, we see the end result of gun violence,” said Svetlana Lipyanskaya, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals. “It’s absolutely critical to be having a conversation about how to prevent violence instead of just being there at the tail end to react to it.” 

Officials tell News 12 that this is the first of many community conversations that the hospital looks to hold.