Grady trauma team describes Ivy hospital-based violence intervention; DeKalb provided seed funding

Grady Health told the DeKalb County Planning, Economic Development and Community Services Committee on Tuesday that its Ivy Project — a hospital-based violence intervention program — has produced markedly lower reinjury rates among program participants and is expanding services with DeKalb support.

Dr. Randy Smith, a trauma surgeon at Grady and the Ivy Project lead, said the program pairs community violence intervention specialists who have lived experience with the hospital trauma team to address patients’ social needs as well as their physical injuries. “We—re less than 3 percent right now,” Dr. Smith said, describing the program—s reinjury rate among participants compared with national reinjury benchmarks he said can reach 30 percent.

The Ivy Project, Dr. Smith said, focuses on patients ages 14–44 who have suffered intentional community firearm injuries and on social drivers of reinjury such as housing, food security and transportation. He said the program screens for housing and safety needs, connects patients with mental-health care and community partners, and provides follow-up care in a dedicated clinic. Dr. Smith told commissioners that, since launch, more than 80 percent of eligible patients have opted into Ivy, and Grady has enrolled 658 participants between January 2023 and December 2024; he said about 25–30 percent of those come from DeKalb County.

Commissioners and Grady staff discussed ways DeKalb can support the program—s efforts to address upstream social drivers. Commissioner Ted Terry pointed to housing conditions in some large apartment complexes and asked whether the county could act on dangerous-dwellings reports when Ivy identifies patients living in substandard housing. Dr. Smith said Ivy performs safety relocation and works with partners such as Mercy Care and Atlanta Victims Assistance to secure short-term housing and longer-term supports. He and Ryan Loke, Grady—s chief health policy officer, said they would coordinate referrals to DeKalb—s recently announced $7.8 million Home ARP rental-assistance program.

Commissioners asked about mental-health services. Dr. Smith said Ivy partners with Grady—s Trauma Recovery Center, which offers 16 weeks of free mental-health services and embeds a mental-health professional on the Ivy team for screening, referral and ongoing care.

Grady said the program is expanding its age range from 14–34 to 14–44 and plans 24/7 coverage, requiring additional personnel and funding. Commissioners offered to connect program leaders with county rental-assistance and youth-engagement efforts, and several suggested coordination with the county—s midnight basketball and youth programming.

Why it matters: County support for hospital-based violence intervention can expand services that aim to reduce repeat violent injury and overdose of resources across health, housing and justice systems. Grady framed Ivy as a public-health intervention that addresses social determinants of health to lower reinjury and death.

The presentation did not include a formal funding request to the board at this meeting; Grady staff agreed to provide DeKalb with more precise county-resident counts and to work with county staff on referral pathways to rental-assistance providers.

Ending: Grady invited commissioners to tour its clinic and the Ivy operations; commissioners expressed interest in further coordination around housing referrals, youth programming and data on the DeKalb patients who enroll in Ivy.