LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than 150 people have been killed in Jefferson County so far this year.

Hundreds of others have been affected by that violence. A program helping kids impacted is now being published in a medical journal.

The Future Healers program is an educational initiative led by Christopher 2X Game Changers, UofL Hospital Trauma Institute and students at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. The goal of the program is to help Louisville children who have been impacted by violence in their neighborhoods to build a better future.

The findings were published in The American Surgeon. It studied the Future Healers program and found 84% of those children have been exposed to gun violence.

Parents have said this program "helped us live again." They said the program works.

"If we had something like this when I was a kid, I might still have some friends, you know, still living today," Steve Clayton, who has a daughter in Future Healers, said.

The program allows kids ages 4-to-13 affected by gun violence to get away from it all in an educational setting. They learn from people like UofL Health trauma surgeon Dr. Keith Miller.

"This problem permeates our community," Dr. Miller said.

A team of 20 doctors, medical students, and community leaders decided to study the children in Future Healers and their caregivers.

Future Healers with doctors

Members of the Future Healer's program. (Photo courtesy of Christopher 2X)

Now, their findings are published in the medical journal The American Surgeon.

"No matter the fact that we see it everyday, we still can't fathom the impact that this issue has had on our community," Dr. Miller said. "We still underestimate the impact."

They found because of the prevalence of guns in their neighborhoods, nearly all of the kids live in fear.

It shows that 82% of caregivers and 66% of children reported having a family member hurt by gunfire.

"These kids know that they and their families have been affected by gun violence in our community, and you're talking kids as little as 4 years old, right? They know that a cousin was killed, right? or that a parent was killed," Dr. Christopher Jones, a transplant surgeon at UofL Health, said.

Aside from giving them an outlet, the program opens their eyes to career paths.

The study found 60% of the children in Future Healers believe they could become a doctor or nurse and more than half of them want be in STEM.

"We can show them a different way, right? It doesn't have to be with what they've experienced, but they can be in a different place and be positive and do good in the world," Dr. Jones said.

The publication will allow other healthcare organizations to see the work that's being done in Louisville and potentially bring it to their communities, too.

The study can be viewed online.

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