New Clinic to Treat the Physical and Emotional Wounds of Trauma is Coming to North St. Louis

ST. LOUIS — Former trauma surgeon Dr. LJ Punch has spent the past six years

creating an array of free services for St. Louisans impacted by gun injuries, from

classes that teach how to stop the bleeding from a bullet wound to therapy for the

anxiety that follows.

On Thursday, standing in front of a dilapidated medical office in north St. Louis,

Punch and his staff announced the 14,000-square-foot building behind them would

soon be their new home — a place to consolidate and expand the much-needed

services under one roof.

“We view unhealed trauma as a core

element in both a lack of well-being in

people and a lack of well-being in

communities,” Punch said, “and by

creating a space where trauma can heal,

we can improve the experience of

community for everybody.”

The announcement was coupled with a

celebration of $3 million in federal

funds secured by U.S. Rep. Cori Bush

that will be used to renovate and equip

the building.

Bush, who has spoken about being shot at by an abusive partner in her early 20s,

says the work is essential to a person’s full recovery.

“While our operating rooms and emergency rooms are treating the physical traumas

of substance use and gun injuries as best that they can, we also must ensure that we’re

treating the trauma that isn’t so obvious to the naked eye,” Bush said. “Healing the

wounds of residual trauma is just as deserving of our attention and care.”

The new building is a culmination of

years of work. Punch’s experience as a

surgeon inspired him in 2018 to create

Stop the Bleed, an initiative to teach

people how to respond to a traumatic

injury. That led to the opening of The

T, a walk-in health education space in

The Loop on Delmar Boulevard that

provided services during the COVID-19

pandemic and also provides overdose

prevention classes and outreach.

Punch went on to open the Bullet Related Injury Clinic (BRIC) in 2020 inside

the Delmar DivINe, about half-a-mile east of The T, to help those discharged from

the hospital after a bullet injury.

Staff at the BRIC not only provide wound care and pain management, but also help

with issues such as emotional stress, poor sleep, nutrition, hygiene and spiritual

guidance. Using an array of government and charitable grants, services are free and

open to anyone who has ever been shot or threatened by a gun, and their families.

Together, The T and the BRIC are known as Power4STL and have nearly 40 staff

members, said Punch, the executive director. Last year, the organization had 15,000

interactions with people. The clinic alone has cared for 650 patients in three years.

The new building at 2715 Union Boulevard, expected to be completed within two

years, will bring all the services together in nearly double the space, Punch said. The

property will also include a garden and labyrinth path for walking meditation.

The services can be hard to explain, Punch said, because there is no other place like it.

“We’re attending to hearts, minds, bodies and souls because that’s what it takes to

address the impact of trauma in someone’s life. There really aren’t centers that are set

up for this,” Punch said.

“You can go the doctor for your body, you can go to the pastor for your soul, you can

go the counselor for your mind, and you can sit at your grandmother’s table to heal

your heart — this place will be all of those things.”

Even though it’s unique, he said, the care is critical to the health and safety of the

entire city. Hospitals and jails are not enough.

“Much of what we don’t like about criminal behavior is often survival behavior, and

that survival behavior is a trauma response,” Punch explained. “When people have

what they need, when they’re not pain, when their needs are being met, when their

wounds are being healed, they don’t have to respond in a way that’s violent to other

people.”

Christin Simpson, a nurse practitioner at BRIC, said it’s life-changing to work in ways

she knows is best for clients, and where her own health as a provider is valued.

“This is a dream of what I imagine health care to look like,” Simpson said. “This is a

dream of what real, true healing is.”

Punch said the $3 million grant cannot be used to buy the new building, so staff will

soon be launching a capital campaign to raise the funds. The owner is allowing work

to begin in the meantime.

The building housed the former Mound City Medical Center, a private practice started

by a group of Black doctors in 1961, a rare service at the time. It operated for

many decades before it shuttered.

“We’re resting on this rich past that came before us,” Punch said. “And for me, I am

standing in our healed future already.”