Providence Holy Cross Medical Center Chief Executive Bernie Klein will never forget the look on the faces of parents whose teenage daughters were transported in 2019 by a helicopter to Providence Holy Cross in Mission Hills following a devastating shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita.
The two girls were among three shooting victims who survived that day, after a teenager opened fire at the high school, killing two students before turning the gun on himself.
“Their kids were brought here and they were waiting to hear how they were doing,” said Klein on Wednesday, Dec. 6, whose youngest daughter was the same age as the Santa Clarita victims. “It was just heartbreaking,” he said, visibly moved.
Fortunately, both victims survived and recovered from their injuries and stayed in touch with Klein, who eventually joined an effort to advocate for gun safety.
“Our family knows firsthand the effects of gun violence,” wrote Tiffany Tretta, a mother of one of the victims treated at Providence Holy Cross, in a statement. “When our daughter Mia Tretta was 15 years old, she became part of a club nobody wants to be a part of — the gun violence survivor club.”
Klein, who heads a busy trauma center at Providence Holy Cross, recently initiated a campaign offering free gun locks to employees and physicians at his medical center and Facey Medical Group, a Providence partner. The goal of the campaign is to keep guns out of the hands of children and teenagers.
A gun lock is a device that looks like a cable and helps to lock a handgun and other firearms, making them impossible to shoot.
The news about the gun lock giveaway comes as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently proposed to allow doctors and nurses at county-run hospitals to distribute free gun locks to promote firearm safety. The board green-lighted a motion proposed by Supervisor Janice Hahn and Supervisor Hilda Solis, directing county staff to explore ways of implementing the…
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