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Grant Helps Harborview Talk To Gang Violence Victims

caption: Harborview Hospital, Seattle, 2002
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Harborview Hospital, Seattle, 2002
Flickr Photo/Seattle Municipal Archives (CC BY 2.0)/http://bit.ly/1Ky8e6j

A new federal grant gives Harborview Medical Center a boost in combating gun violence. The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday awarded about $500,000 to organizations in Seattle, including Harborview.

The hospital wants to talk with gunshot victims about the reasons they ended up in the hospital -- sometimes due to gang activity or crime.

Dr. Monica Vavilala runs the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center. She said the hope is to prevent the patients from returning with another gunshot wound. The grant helps, but the hospital still has to raise more money to launch the program.

The federal grant will also go toward making sure all gun information is entered into a national database within two days of a crime.

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