Doc calls ER ‘horrific’ when multiple shootings occur

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Violence creates chaos in the emergency room. Whether it’s a mass shooting or multiple gunshot victims in a short period of time, one of the Mid-South’s top trauma doctors called the sights and sounds utterly horrific.

In April, terror erupted in Orange Mound . A mass shooting during an unauthorized block party left two dead and several more injured.

It took an emotional toll on the community, families and the healthcare system.

“There was a good number of people here already. Physicians, nurses, therapists and the techs. But yeah, we did start calling people from home,” Regional One’s Chief of Trauma Dr. Andy Kerwin said.

He was home that night and started putting on his scrubs while staff gave updates.

“It was total chaos there, because there’s so many people, then their family members come, and there’s media wanting to know what’s going on,” Kerwin said.

He wishes the public could have seen it, so they could better understand the impact of gun violence.

“Our environmental services folks are in there mopping up blood that is on the floor. The garbage that’s been thrown on the floor. Our clothes that have been cut off that are now full of blood. It’s horrific. If people saw it, they would really be horrified,” he said.

Sadly, it keeps happening.

“Think back to the the Kroger mass shooting . I think we got eight victims who came that day. The next time I was on call for 24 hours, I got nine in that same day,” Kerwin said. “Nobody hears about that, because they were kind of scattered over a 24 hour period.”

Kerwin has repeatedly called on the community to take a different approach to gun violence. He wants it treated like any other infectious disease. He said we should look at it through a public health lens, dedicate funding and research, and then implement proven policies and programs to treat it. He believes the longer we wait, the worse it will get.

In June, the U.S. Surgeon General deemed gun violence a public health crisis. In his 40-page report , he listed what he thinks lawmakers, health systems and communities should do.

In September 2022, the entire city of Memphis was put on lockdown as police reported Ezekiel Kelly drove around and shot six people.

“We just hired a couple of new surgeons,” Kerwin said.

Kerwin was having dinner with their new hires as the news unfolded. One had just moved to the Bluff City.

“It does. It impacts recruitment. It impacts retention,” Kerwin said.

He said they work with staff to make sure they decompress and find outlets outside of the hospital to provide stress relief.

“If you’re not careful and thinking about ways to decompress from that and take those stressors or relieve those stressors, then that can really add up. That’s why people get burned out,” he explained.

But he said, the sounds and sights will always stick with them. They will never forget the victims, who are now coming in with more bullet wounds. Their injuries now more lethal.

He said it’s physically and emotionally exhausting.

“Once you see these things and hear them, you don’t forget about them,” Kerwin said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.