Project Inspire presented at national conference
Project Inspire was an idea that Jon Simmons, M.D., trauma medical director and chief of trauma and acute care surgery at USA Health, had after previously witnessing a “scared straight” type of program.
Members of the USA Health trauma team recently shared Project Inspire, a mentorship program designed to build relationships and encourage adolescents with gun-related offenses in the Mobile community, at a national conference.
Andrew Haiflich, R.N., M.S.N., director of trauma services at USA Health, and Ashley Williams, M.D., former surgery chief resident physician at USA Health and co-founder of Project Inspire, presented virtually during the 2020 Vizient Connections Education Summit in mid-September. Williams currently is completing a fellowship at Pittsburgh. Their presentation on Project Inspire was one of 60 poster presentations at this year’s conference. More than 700 abstracts were submitted by Vizient members.
“The summit was a great opportunity to present our injury prevention program to a national audience,” Haiflich said. “We’ve been so pleased with the success of the program and the impact it has made on the participants’ lives. It would be great to see other communities create something similar to impact the young people at a higher risk for violence.”
Project Inspire was an idea that Jon Simmons, M.D., trauma medical director and chief of trauma and acute care surgery at USA Health, had after previously witnessing a “scared straight” type of program. Williams participated in a similar program before coming to USA, and the two began the program in July 2018 with four participants. In 2019, the program grew to six participants.
Project Inspire is a three-week, hospital-based injury-prevention program that uses exposure and mentorship to inspire participants to become the best version of themselves. Project Inspire works in collaboration with the Mobile County Juvenile Court System, which has programs in place specifically designed to curb gun violence. Although successful in its own right, the addition of Project Inspire has radically improved the outcomes for the kids in both programs. The participants are identified by the court system as candidates who stand to get a lot out of the program.
“Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death for all people aged one to 44,” Williams said. “Intentional or violent injury is a national and a local public health crisis. In my opinion, the best way to address this issue is through prevention. Project Inspire aims to reduce violence by offering exposure and mentorship to teenagers in our very own community.”
