Oncology and Violence Prevention — An Analogy

I have been thinking a lot about how it might sound that I don’t appreciate aftercare provided by emergency services.

That is not at all the case.

I highly appreciate the intrepid support of the emergency teams that provide services for people who are survivors of violence.

Saying that I am anti-emergency staff would be like saying that because I support the efforts of medical professionals and scientists who work so hard to prevent cancer by providing research, education, and screenings, I have an issue with oncologists.

Am I claiming that screening and other prevention measures work 100% of the time?

Well, no. Does anything?

But I do believe that the goal is for us to help the humans who may end up needing an oncologist one day to get the help they need and have resources that allow them to make empowered decisions before the cancer reaches stage 4. The ultimate goal is fewer cancer patients. And for those patients to have a better chance of survival.

So yes, when it comes to both cancer and violence, education and prevention are vitally important for survival rates to stay high

So yes, when it comes to both cancer and violence, education and prevention are vitally important for survival rates to stay high.

And maybe this will help explain my feelings on this. Most areas have way too few beds in shelters for survivors of domestic violence. We could solve that problem by investing in more emergency services, more beds, and more resources for aftercare.

Or, we could invest more in prevention so that the lines of people waiting for beds in shelters will be shorter.

Although I wish it could be, the goal of Empowerment Self Defense isn’t to completely wipe out violence. That is just as seemingly impossible as wiping out every type of cancer for everyone forever.

It’s to prevent as many acts of violence as possible or, at the very least, to interrupt them before they reach stage 4.