It's 2:20 am on Friday morning. The phone rings waking up the HCRT Interventionists . Being on call 24/7 means they are up and moving, leaving the safety of their homes and families to make their way to the hospital where the team will provide services to another family and community who have just been impacted by gun violence. It's a scene that's repeated over and over again. In 2021, the HCRT has served 210 victims and their families visiting hospitals and crime scenes over 74 times in the second half of the year alone.

In 2004, HCTC partnered with Saint Francis Hospital to form what is now the Hartford Care Response Team (HCRT), a hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP). It has since intervened and provided care to more than 1,800 victims of violence and their families and loved ones.

With research showing victims affected by violence are at higher risk to re-experience violence or be re-injured, the HCRT engages with victims as soon as allowed — often at bedside right after an injury, when trauma-informed support can be a powerful force in creating positive future outcomes. From this critical “golden moment” on, the response team builds a relationship with the victim and family, following best practices. Under a 2019 Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant, the HCRT has been able to further expand offerings, connecting families to physical health, mental health, and wraparound social services that help prevent and reduce crime in our community.

We Provide Victims and Their Families with:

• Emotional, psychological, and physical needs; helping survivors stabilize their lives and navigate the criminal justice system, and helping restore survivors’ home safety and security.

• Support services ranging from personal advocacy, filing compensation claims, and follow-up contacts and referrals to crisis counseling (beginning at the crime scene or in the emergency room and continuing through future safety planning).