|
Credit:
Alliance for Safety and Justice
"We're moving people from survival mode to living mode; that's what happens in the trauma center," he says. "And if people are getting their needs met, their questions answered, then they are less likely to put themselves in high-risk situations."
A holistic approach
Rooks was an adolescent living in south Dallas as the crack cocaine epidemic ravaged Black neighborhoods, including his own, in the 1980s. His mother moved him out — just 10 miles or so away — but left his father and others among Rook's friends behind. Several of his friends lost their lives to violence.