A call to action. Violent deaths are preventable when information is available

Collecting these variables, along with routine EMS data, will enhance analysis of the interpersonal violence problem. To assume that this information will be obtained further along in the health-care delivery chain jeopardizes its validity, since there is a likelihood that the story may change. Surveillance or ongoing data collection allow for better estimates and enhanced knowledge about the cost of violence to the health-care system. Timely data are needed to identify important shifts in injury patterns, as well as newly emerging problems. For example, a community may observe an increase in the use of baseball bats as weapons. That information could become vital to prevention. As EMS providers, you are in a unique position to augment public-health surveillance of interpersonal violence by virtue of the fact that you are often the first on scene and can collect data that may not be routinely collected. Without this type of information, planning, implementation and evaluation of successful violence prevention reduction efforts continue to present a major challenge to public health systems.