Providence Health & Services will be celebrating 20 years of their free gang tattoo removal program Thursday, a program that works to change the lives of gang members and ex-convicts.
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Two decades ago, the late Sister June Wilkerson was concerned by a spike in gang shootings that took victims to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center’s trauma center.
The victims, many of whom had left the gang life, still displayed tattoos that identified them as rivals to their attackers, according to Providence Health & Services officials.
Additionally, gang-related tattoos can impede job searches, self esteem and the ability to serve as a role model for kids, according to program officials.
Working with the Los Angeles Police Department, Wilkerson established a free program, sponsored by the hospital, to remove the tattoos from youth and former gang members.
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Clients who took advantage of the program’s assistance paid for the services by either performing community service or returning to school, according to officials.
“Today Providence Health and Services continues to run the program as part of a robust community outreach program to meet the needs of the poor and vulnerable in the communities it serves,” said program officials.
The program currently serves 345 clients, but officials have seen thousands of former gang members and ex-cons change their lives over the past two decades after removing these tattoos, according to program officials.
Clients have been drawn to the program through the work done by Karina Cisneros, a program coordinator and former gang member, who visits prisons and probation camps to counsel inmates and help them turn their lives around.
“Today Karina has 30 to 60 clients who come in Saturdays for the series of sometimes grueling laser procedures to blast away the ink. Eighty are on the waiting list,” said Facey officials in a statement.
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