This past Friday, Brian Williams from NBC Nightly News did a segment on the positive changes the police have been making in Camden since the last time he was there in 2013, when Camden made national news for being the murder capital of the country. He reported on a decrease of homicides and violent crimes and a police force becoming more actively involved in the community. Father Jeff Putthoff, S.J., executive director of Hopeworks ‘N Camden, a non-profit organization that works with the city’s youth, however, warns, that despite this positive news, Camden still has a lot of healing to do.
Father Jeff compares Camden to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. Just like radiation poisoning affected the surrounding community for years after the plant was shut down (some would say even up till today), trauma too can slowly poison the survivors of and witnesses to violence, abuse and neglect left to live in a toxic environment. Even with a decrease in violence and crime on the streets, there are those who are still struggling to move on from past traumas.
“Trauma has medical implications. Your brain health is affected by stress hormones," he said. “Studies have shown that overexposure to cortisol, the hormone released during stress, damages the neurons in the brain and has been linked to heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes as well as other diseases.”
[For more of this story, written by Tracey Romero, go to http://www.philly.com/philly/h...f_healing_to_do.html]
Comments (0)