Kaiser Permanente has also given financial and institutional support to a wide range of violence prevention programs. These include a staff education program for serving pregnant and battered teens, and a long-standing domestic violence committee that was instrumental in developing a protocol for San Francisco medical providers to report domestic violence incidents. A recent program is creating a violence-free zone around Everett Middle School through a collaborative of Everett parents and staff, UC Berkeley's School of Public Health, and Kaiser Permanente's Department of Psychiatry, and Division of Research. Jim Beauford, a Kaiser Permanente psychologist, was warned they would never get the parents and the community involved. Twenty-five parents along with groups of student leaders have undergone a training course in violence prevention.
Parents walk the neighborhood.
Stores post signs and offer safe haven for Everett students. Anecdotally, we are already seeing improvement. What we can do is use guerrilla warfare tactics and mobilize a large number of local actions that create inertia for wider action. Nationwide, violence is being recognized as a public health epidemic. The efforts of San Francisco hospitals have raised awareness and created successful models to build upon.