CINCINNATI — Local officials hope a new program could help heal people from trauma and address Cincinnati's gun violence issue.
Doctors with Cincinnati Children's Hospital and UC Medical Center say they're in the process of hiring two people called "credible messengers." They're essentially the people who help build trust with victims and their families.
We spoke with one young man who lost three people close to him due to gun violence.
"I was so confused, I was so young so I didn't know what's going on," said Antwan Hinton, describing what was happening when he found out his father died.
On July 8, 2014, two men allegedly ran up to a car and shot a man inside. That man was 27-year-old Anthony Hinton.
"He was my hero — my everything," Hinton said. "I was lost, I didn't know what to do."
Less than two years later, someone shot and killed Anthony Hinton Jr. in Over-the-Rhine near Grant Park. Antwan's older brother was 14 when he died.
"We got in the car, once again, everybody busting out crying," Hinton said.
Antwan is now 16 and has dealt with his fair share of trauma, losing both his father and older brother within five years of each other.
Then it happened again. On October 30, 2022, someone shot and killed Antonio Thrasher in Avondale. Thrasher was Hinton's AAU basketball coach.
Three of the closest men in his life, three of his role models, all died from gun violence.
"I just like to (not) think about it sometimes, just hoop it away," Hinton said. "That's all I want to do — do it for them."
During a city council meeting Tuesday, doctors from UC Medical Center and Cincinnati Children's Hospital presented their solution to better tackle trauma.
"We're seeing a lot more victims of gun violence come through our doors over the last five years ... a lot younger victims coming through our doors," Dr. Amy Makley with UC Medical Center said. "We've got a huge population that then is essentially lost where we don't know if the community is picking them up."
It would be the city's first hospital-based violence intervention program as a partnership between the city and both hospitals. The idea is to provide families better care for not only their physical injuries from gun violence but also their mental and emotional injuries.
"There is sometimes an element of mistrust that comes into play," Makley said.
It's a program Hinton said he feels he would benefit from.
"That would mean a lot to me," Hinton said. "I could talk my mind out and everything. It might mean a lot to other people too because you never know what other people are going through, so that would probably help out with other people with their situation."
The city is using $600,000 from the general fund to get the program started this summer, but there are still some unknowns about future costs and how many employees there could be moving forward.
READ MORE
City of Cincinnati announces new partnership with UC, Children's Hospital
Anti-violence advocate loses 14-year-old cousin to shooting
Community remembers AAU basketball coach shot and killed in Avondale
