Los Angeles County has more than 1,300 gangs with over 150,000 members. In the city of Los Angeles alone, there are an estimated 450 active gangs with a combined membership of over 45,000 individuals.
In the last three years, there were over 16,398 violent gang crimes in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Those crimes included 491 homicides, 7,047 felony assaults, 5,518 robberies and 98 rapes.
For Los Angeles-based hospitals, treating patients with gang affiliations isn’t something new. Many of the active gangs in the area have been around for more than half a century.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, located in the heart of South Los Angeles, has provided medical services to many local gang members over the years.
According to Jonathan Westall, VP of Ancillary Services at MLKCH, South L.A. has been dominated by the Bloods and the Crips for decades.
“I would say quite a few of our [patients] are gang members or associated with different gangs,” Westall tells Campus Safety magazine. “Some of the largest housing projects in Los Angeles – Nickerson Gardens and Imperial Courts – are across the street [from the hospital].”
While outside influences and a simple lack of awareness might lead the average person to believe that gang-affiliated patients are usually at a hospital to receive medical attention for injuries sustained due to gang violence, Westall says most of the time, they are there to receive treatment for common ailments.
“The Crips and the Bloods formed in the 70s, so you have elderly gang members who have normal aging issues,” says Westall. “They have canes and walkers. These are old men. Now don’t get me wrong, there is violent crime and stuff does happen, but a lot of them are also here because their kid is sick, or their wife is pregnant, or their brother or mother is in. They have all these normal medical issues that all non-gang members have. So, at that point, they’re worried about their family member like anybody else would be.”
While violent occurrences are rare, hospitals still need to be prepared for the potential problems that can arise when a gang member becomes a patient due to gang-related injuries.
Amy Rock Editorial, LLC 