Domestic Violence is YOUR Issue!

The story from yesterday was an all too typical story of what I used to see on a daily basis, for the eight years I worked in the field of domestic violence. But the story was also just a glimpse. I literally could talk all day about DV and it's effects on people, society and YOU.  For starters, did you know that in Texas, in 2012, there were 188,992 instances of DV (more info here)???

I can guarantee that every single person reading this knows someone affected by DV, if you haven't been affected by it first hand. Think about it.  Remember an old neighbor, that friend you had in 8th grade who house you could never stay at on the weekends but were never sure of why, the woman at church who 'just tripped and fell,' breaking her ankle (for the third time), the man in front of you in line at Target who jumps just a little every time his wife starts talking to him, or how about the child you saw at the playground who starts to cry every time his mom begins to correct him for doing something she didn't like. 

Domestic violence is my passion, per se. I did my Master's level research on domestic violence (I looked at the correlation between women who are abused and the rate at which they then abuse drugs/substances as a method of coping), have been to and led many trainings and class discussions on the topic, and still read and research the topic to this day. It's still not enough though.  Domestic violence is an epidemic. But we still don't talk about it!  Did you know that "Domestic violence affects one in four women...that's more than breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer COMBINED!" (link). Yes, please support breast cancer awareness and please do not forget about that devastating disease, BUT please don't leave out domestic violence either!!

Yes, I have a new job now, but no, I will never forget about domestic violence, how it has affected my life, and I will continue to spread the word about what DV is and how YOU can help.  DV is actually a fairly large part of what I do now (perinatal social work), as noted with the following stats:

• Homicide is the SECOND LEADING CAUSE OF TRAUMATIC DEATH among pregnant and recently pregnant women in the U.S., accounting for 31 percent of maternal injury deaths.
• Women experiencing abuse in the year prior to and/or during a recent pregnancy are 40 to 60 percent more likely than non-abused women to report high-blood pressure, vaginal bleeding, severe nausea, kidney or urinary tract infections and hospitalization during pregnancy and are 37 percent more likely to deliver preterm. Children born to abused mothers are 17 percent more likely to be born underweight and more than 30 percent more likely than other children to require intensive care upon birth. 

Scary huh?!?! So for the next few posts, I'm going to talk about what domestic violence is, what to look for when trying to identify a victim of DV, why victims stay with abusers, and what you can do as a member of society (and specifically a nurse :)). #DVseries - here I come :)

Unless specifically noted, all the aforementioned information, besides my own opinions, were gleaned from the following: www.futureswithoutviolence.org, www.tcfv.org, www.thehotline.org