Oral History

Highlights from the oral history interview with Barbara Barlow.

"When I first started, if I talked to pediatricians, they got it, because pediatrics is a protective specialty. They prevent infectious diseases - everything they do is prevention, preventative health, basically. And surgeons– I had one say "Why would I want to prevent injuries? They're so much fun to operate on." They didn’t get it. I would talk to a room of surgeons, and they'd be sitting there like this, and I knew they were thinking "This is a really crazy woman. What is she doing and what is she talking about and why is this of interest to her?" But the fact of the matter is that anyone who takes care of injured or dying children, from needless injuries, has their own post-traumatic stress. And that's the pediatricians. That's the pediatric emergency medicine people. That's the adult emergency medicine people. And that’s the pediatric surgeons. And for all of us, all the PI's in all my programs, they're treating their own post-traumatic stress, because no one is paid for this work. This isn't something you get paid a salary to do, if you're a doctor. You give your time to this because you want to prevent the injuries, because they're so horrible. And you never forget when you see– I don't forget any children that died. You live with it, forever. And so, if you do something to make things better, to decrease injuries, you are really treating your own post-traumatic stress. Honestly. And that's why these folks are so passionate."

- Barbara Barlow, on the reception of "Injuries are Not Accidents"

For the complete audio of the oral history, click here and scroll down to the playlist.

For a full transcript of this oral history, click here.