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'We want to make sure people have a safe space': Local clinic hosting healing event 1 year after CVPA shooting

The deadly shooting on Oct. 24, 2022, took the lives of student Alexzandria Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka.

ST. LOUIS — This month marks one year since a gunman opened fire on the campus of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.

The deadly shooting on Oct. 24, 2022, took the lives of student Alexzandria Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka.

It's a day that not only impacted students and staff at the St. Louis high school but the community as a whole. 

Dr. LJ Punch, with the Bullet Related Injury Clinic, said they will commemorate this tragic day by focusing on healing. 

"It's important to talk about still because we must have deeper solutions. While we do a lot to work on healing and recovery, we also have to be in investing in ways to make sure that schools stay safe for kids; period," he said.

It's a scene many, including Dr. Punch, will never forget. 

"It was a moment of chaos and fear and quite honestly, a lot of unknowns and disbelief that this had happened," he said.

A St. Louis high school, known for its creativity and art, became the latest target of a school shooting.

"To think that that safe haven, that sanctuary of learning, became a place where life was lost. That was the part that was the hardest for me," he said.

Dr. Punch was one of the many who showed up at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School on Oct. 24, 2022.

"I remember going on the scene and showing up with what we had water, stress balls, kind words, an invitation to come to our clinic, and now, a year later, we have such a better understanding of what it is that people need in moments of crisis like that," he said.

Dr. Punch's contributions to the CVPA community didn't stop there though, as the BRIC's Medical Director he has spent the past year working with survivors.

"Bullets go deep into our lives and they bring us back to the worst moments of our lives. Good medicine means we need to tend to that, we need to create healing spaces for that," he said.

That's why, according to Dr. Punch, the BRIC is hosting an event at the Delmar Divine to mark one year since the gunfire that changed the school forever.

"If we don't observe that, if we don't hold that in some kind of remembrance, that pain goes unseen," he said.

Dr. Punch said it's a time to bring the community together because the healing is far from over.

"One-year anniversaries frequently bring up the recurrent feelings of trauma, fear, helplessness," he said.

Feelings that Dr. Punch is hoping to bring the exact opposite of on Oct. 24th of this year by providing active listening, spiritual care and therapy to a community that's forever scarred.

"We want to make sure people have safe space to come and breathe, exhale, be seen and be cared for," he said.

The BRIC's event is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at the Delmar Divine Building, which is located at 5501 Delmar Blvd. 

All services offered will be free and everyone will go home with a free wellness box for self-care items you can use at home. 

Walk-ins are welcome, but you are encouraged to register here

A Saint Louis Public Schools Spokesperson told 5 On Your Side students from CVPA and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience will be off Monday, Oct. 23, and Tuesday, Oct. 24.

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