State Representative Kenyatta Johnson
Phila. Democrat.
State Representative Kenyatta Johnson urges Governor Ed Rendell to support the Pennsylvania Injury Reporting and Intervention System (PIRIS) funding.
Representative Kenyatta Johnson (D-Philadelphia) held a press conference yesterday in the Capitol Rotunda to urge Governor Rendell and the legislature to restore funding for the Pennsylvania Injury Reporting and Intervention System (PIRIS). Rep. Johnson stated that the purpose of the press conference was to garner support from the administration and legislature to restore funding to the PIRIS program. PIRIS is a partnership between the Philadelphia medical community, and social service agencies, specifically the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation and the Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence network.
The partnership under PIRIS aims to provide necessary services to the victims of gun violence and their families, said Rep. Johnson. He stated that the level of gun violence in the city of Philadelphia, and across the Commonwealth, has grown to such to a degree as to be considered a public health epidemic. PIRIS attempts to help victims and their families reclaim their lives, as well as seek out the root causes of gun violence, he remarked. It is in the emergency room, explained Rep. Johnson, that gun violence victims, their family and friends must make the choice as to whether they should retaliate and cause even more bloodshed.
And in addition, the victims and their families do have a choice to either retaliate or reclaim their lives.
