KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One Kansas City University medical student is hoping to do her part to stop violent crimes. It has been her mission since gun violence touched her life.

The number of homicides remains a problem in Kansas City, Missouri, but city leaders are also concerned about the impacts of non-fatal shootings.

Jenna Cook understands from her experience surviving a mass shooting.

“It is such a great thing that they survived the incident, that they survived, but they are walking away with things like PTSD, and then the physical trauma of wherever their gunshot was,” Cook said. “I think every day gun violence is something that people are experiencing on a day-to-day basis, but don’t necessarily get the news coverage that something like the Route 91 shooting would get.”

Cook and her family were among the thousands who attended the Route 91 music festival on Oct. 1, 2017, in Las Vegas. The Route 91 music festival was a yearly tradition for her family to mark the end of summer.

A gunman killed 58 people that night, and almost 500 others were injured when the killer shot into the crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

When the gunshots began, Cook and her family took cover in the bleachers, hoping to stay alive. But it was what happened next that changed the course of her life.

“Those are seconds that feel like forever,” Cook said. “Worked with my mom, who is a nurse, and we just, we’re tying tourniquets, loading people into back of trucks and doing our best to get people out.”

Cook said her reaction was to just do something. That instinct later brought her to KCU's medical school.

She is now reclaiming her story by pursuing emergency medicine and fighting to end gun violence alongside other survivors of the Las Vegas mass shooting.

She also found a place to help at Care Beyond the Boulevard, a Kansas City clinic that provides free healthcare to those experiencing homelessness. The organization focuses on prevention, which aligns with Cook’s goal to curb violence.

“Understanding the nuances of homelessness and being embedded into a street medicine organization as a student can help you when you become a provider,” said Care Beyond the Boulevard CEO & Founder Jaynell Assmann.

According to the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association, emergency room physicians make up less than 5% of all doctors.

Despite the demand, Cook said her call to action was too loud to ignore.

“It was really important to me to be able to be a part of somebody’s worst day and have the skills and capability of helping them during that time,” Cook said. “Stepping into that world now, I think I’m going in eyes wide open.”