Follow steps for success with tattoo removal
Sticking to your area of expertise, building your funding base, and partnering with other organizations are keys to a successful gang tattoo removal program, according to Paul K. Plumb, manager of laser services at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.
Get fundraising and volunteer recruitment in place before the program begins, he advises. The hospital’s fundraising department helped him obtain a grant to underwrite some of the costs associated with the program, but he says that garnering community support is important for ongoing funds. "The majority of the grant funds were used to underwrite the cost of a full-time [Minneapolis] Parks and Recreation Department employee to coordinate the program," he explains. "The [direct] costs associated with the actual laser treatment are minimal."
Abbott Northwestern absorbs much of the cost of gloves, injectable anesthetics, and antibiotic cream used for those having tattoos removed. However, Plumb uses grant funds and donations to pay for the replacement of the laser lens. "The cost of the lens is $300, and it is usually replaced two or three times each year," he explains.
Plan on continuous volunteer recruitment to keep the program going, Plumb advises. Articles in employee and physician newsletters as well as posters throughout the hospital have been the most effective recruitment tools, he adds.
Abbott Northwestern has provided tattoo removal since the beginning of the TRY Program (Tattoo Removal for Youth) in 1996. Co-sponsored by the hospital, the Minneapolis Police Department, and the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Department, the program began in 1996 after a 1½ year planning process.
The program attracts people younger than 25 who want to move away from gang involvement, finish school, and find jobs. "The real carrot to attract involvement is the tattoo removal," says Plumb. "But before the youth even gets to us for removal of the tattoo, he or she has to undergo a counseling and self-development program."
In fact, the former gang members may be in the program several months before the first tattoo removal treatment is performed, says Plumb. The steps that the youth undergo before tattoo removal are:
1. Mentoring and self-development counseling sessions with parks and recreation department employees. These sessions help program members set goals such as finishing school, obtaining job training, finding a job, and keeping a job. "This is an important step for these youths because many of them come from homes in which they’ve not been taught how to set goals," says Plumb.
2. Community service. Each person must complete four hours of community service each month he or she is in the program. Parks and recreation employees help program participants find places to serve. Plumb has seen youth volunteering time at libraries, parks programs, hospitals, and other places.
3. Tattoo treatment. After the program participant has performed the first month of community service, stayed in school, or gotten a job, he or she is eligible for the first treatment. A parks department employee meets the youth at the day-surgery program to verify school attendance, job attendance, and community service before the first treatment is administered. The parks department employee verifies the criteria every visit before the treatment.
An important extra service provided is an extensive health history and physical that is performed before the first treatment, says Plumb. "Most of these youth have no regular access to health care, and this is the first physical they’ve received," he says. "This gives us a chance to identify other health services they may need."
The actual treatment lasts about 10 to 15 minutes, but eight to 10 treatments may be needed, says Plumb. "Amateur tattoos using India ink are relatively easy to remove, but as time has gone by, we are seeing more professionally applied tattoos for cult and gang members."
Participants may stay in the program as long as two years to complete the counseling and tattoo removal, says Plumb. "We remove all tattoos, starting with the most visible, then moving to those that may be hidden by clothes."
Appointments for the treatments are handled by the surgery staff at two outpatient centers, one within the hospital and one satellite center in a nearby suburb. The suburban center sees the tattoo patients after 4 p.m. when the surgery center is closed, but the center at Northwestern sees patients during the day.
"We originally set up a secure, separate waiting room because we feared trouble with other gang members, but security is not the problem we anticipated," says Plumb. There is still a separate waiting area, but that is more for the comfort of the youth who might be unaccustomed to a surgery setting than for security reasons, he adds.
Staffing for the program is all volunteer, says Plumb. Medical personnel needed for the treatments include a surgeon, a nurse practitioner, a surgical technician, and, occasionally, a social worker, says Plumb. A plastic surgeon volunteers time at the Northwestern site, and a dermatologist performs the procedure at the satellite center, he says.
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