|
Injury is a complex problem requiring multifaceted solutions. Making a lasting difference requires collaboration between many groups working together to prevent injuries. CDC worked with numerous organizations on injury prevention programs and activities during 2000–2001. These activities include:
Audio-Conference on Evaluation for Injury Prevention Practitioners
CDC and the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Health Promotion and Public Health Education jointly sponsored a two-hour audio-conference for injury prevention researchers and practitioners entitled, “Evaluation in the Real World.” Professors from Emory University and The Johns Hopkins University outlined the process of program evaluation using relevant examples from their own experience. Participants received copies of the CDC publication on which the training was based—Demonstrating Your Program’s Worth: A Primer on Evaluation for Programs to Prevent Unintentional
Injury.
The Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology
With CDC funding, the Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles developed and pilot tested a “train-the-trainer” program for community organizations and agencies that serve older Hispanics in East Los Angeles. The goal of this program is to educate agency staff about the importance of preventing fall injuries among older adults and to enable these organizations to integrate fall injury pre-vention activities into their existing service delivery programs.
Fire PALS
CDC is funding implementation of the Fire PALS (Prevent Accidents, Live Safe) Injury Prevention Program and the Learn Not to Burn program in schools in Waterloo, Iowa.
During the 2000–2001 school year, the programs were introduced in 11 public and parochial schools. Uniformed Waterloo Fire Rescue firefighters serve as Fire PALS instructors. The program targets elementary and preschool children, and includes classroom instruction and presentations, safety fairs, arson intervention presentations, and bicycle rodeos. Head Start preschools at 13 sites used the National Fire Protection Association’s Learn Not to Burn Preschool Program, reinforced with teacher training and interactive visits from the Waterloo Fire and Rescue
Unit.
Healthy People 2010
Healthy People 2010 outlines a comprehensive, nationwide health promotion and disease prevention agenda to promote health and prevent illness, disability, and premature death. It is designed to serve as a roadmap for improving the health of all people in the U.S. during the first decade of the 21st century. CDC’s injury prevention staff coordinated development of the chapter on injury and violence prevention. The goal is to reduce injuries, disabilities, and deaths due to unintentional injuries and violence. Reducing deaths caused by motor vehicle crashes was identified as a leading health indicator for the nation. The leading health indicators reflect the major public health concerns in the United States and were chosen based on their ability to motivate action, the availability of data to measure their progress, and their relevance as broad public health issues.
National Program for Playground Safety
To reduce the high numbers of children injured on playgrounds, CDC supports the National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS), based at the University of Northern Iowa. NPPS educates parents, teachers, manufacturers, and others about supervision of children on playgrounds, age-appropriateness of equipment, proper surfacing to prevent injuries from falls, and equipment maintenance. In 2001, NPPS sponsored a National Playground Safety Day and Playground Safety School. For more information about program activities, visit the NPPS
website.
National Resource Center on Aging and Injury
Funded by CDC, the National Resource Center on Aging and Injury (NRCAI) is a joint effort between the San Diego State University Center on Aging and the American Society on Aging. NRCAI applies technology to evaluate and share information about preventing injuries among older adults. NRCAI’s goal is to increase awareness about injuries among older adults and to collect, organize, and evaluate information about preventing these injuries. Through the end of fiscal year 2001, the center had enrolled 360 participants in web-based seminars; tracked 8,207 visits to its interactive web site
(www.nrcai.org/); and provided information through conferences and print and electronic media to more than 2.2 million people, including health care professionals, care givers, and others working to reduce injuries among older adults.
Student Fellowship in Unintentional Injury Prevention
CDC and the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) jointly sponsor the Student Fellowship in Injury Prevention. The one-year fellowship is designed to recognize, assist, and train graduate students working on research or practice-based unintentional injury or violence prevention projects from the perspective of health education or the behavioral sciences. Projects have included an evaluation of tailored injury prevention messages designed to help parents prevent childhood injuries; the application of the transtheoretical model to an educational program targeting older drivers; implementation and evaluation of the KIDS process, an innovative program designed to promote the proper use of child safety seats; an exploration of potential determinants for falls among older adults and an exami-nation of the short-term outcomes of a multidimensional risk intervention program; and an implementation of parenting education classes for Latino-Hispanic women with young children to address basic safety measures and unintentional injury prevention. Starting in 2002, the fellowship will be expanded to include projects involving violence prevention.
Tool Kit to Prevent Senior Falls
Developed by injury researchers at CDC, The Tool Kit to Prevent Senior Falls is a comprehensive collection of fall prevention materials for health professionals. The Tool Kit, originally published in 1999, contains fact sheets, health education materials including a brochure, and a home assessment checklist designed to reduce falls and related injuries among older adults. Materials are based on the published literature as well as research conducted and sponsored by CDC since the late 1980s. In 2001, CDC made available Spanish versions of the brochure and check list from the Tool Kit. More than 6,000 recipients have used the Tool Kit in fall prevention programs and have distributed the materials to clients at senior centers, hospitals, and health departments. The materials have also been used in professional presentations and for teaching nursing and health care students.
Indian Health Service
In 1985, CDC entered into an interagency agreement with the Indian Health Service (IHS) to focus on surveillance, risk factor identification, and prevention measures to reduce injuries among Native Americans. Established in response to the high rates of injury among Native American populations, this successful partnership has become one of the longest-lived for CDC’s injury prevention program. During 2000–2001, activities included:
- Native American Childhood Injury Mortality
Atlas. Injury staff have been developing a color atlas that will describe eight major causes of injury-related death among Native
American children ages 0 to 19 during 1985–1996.
- United Tribes Technical
College. Graduates and current students of the associate degree
program in injury prevention at the United Tribes Technical College (UTTC), supported
by CDC and IHS, are now working for tribal health departments as injury prevention
practitioners; performing internships in traffic safety with the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration and the State Offices of Highway Safety; and continuing their
education toward four-year degrees. Established in 1998, the two-year injury degree
program trains Native Americans to use the public health approach to prevent injuries
and prepares them for work as injury prevention practitioners. The Injury Prevention
Program continues to be one of the most popular degree programs among students at
UTTC and has been instrumental in building tribal capacity to prevent injuries.
- Grantee
Conference. CDC and IHS conducted a grantee orientation and training
conference for staff of the 25 tribal core injury prevention programs funded by IHS. CDC assisted in conference planning; trained IHS project officers to manage cooperative
agreements and work with grantees; and provided information to grantees about effective
intervention strategies. These programs, now in their second year of a five-year funding
commitment, receive $50,000 annually to enhance their capacity to address injury
problems specific to their tribes.
- Training Injury Prevention
Practitioners. CDC Injury staff recently helped revise and teach the week-long Introduction to Injury Prevention training course used to educate
IHS and tribal staff about community-based injury prevention. This course has trained
hundreds of IHS and tribal staff members since it was first conducted in 1985. CDC is
currently working with the Alaska Department of Health to help prepare this course for
Alaska’s public health workers as well.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Among American Indians and Alaska
Natives. CDC scientists studied the impact and leading causes of TBIs requiring hospitalization among American Indians and Alaska Natives to raise awareness of this major cause of disability. From 1992 to 1996, IHS, tribal, or contract-care hospitals recorded nearly
4,500 TBI–related hospitalizations among American Indians and Alaska Natives
resulting in more than 21,000 hospital days. The average length of stay for a TBI
hospitalization was 4.7 days.
CDC. Traumatic brain injury—American Indians and Alaska Natives—United States, 1992–1996.
MMWR 2002;51(14):303–5.
|
