The links below contained detailed information for the upcoming 2017 Safe States Alliance Annual Meeting, taking place September 12-14, 2017 in Aurora, Colorado.
Please note:
- A total of five concurrent sessions will take place during the Annual Meeting, and there will be up to five breakouts occurring simultaneously during each of those concurrent sessions. Within each breakout, there will be up to four presentations that take place.
- This online system does not allow us to embed the individual presentations within each breakout. Please note the session presentations listed under each Concurrent Breakout title for associated content.
- The on-site mobile app WILL embed these sessions for ease of use.
- A printable, detailed agenda can be found on the 2017 Annual Meeting website.
- If you have any questions, please contact info@safestates.org
- All session times and locations are tentative and subject to change. Safe States will continue to update these details as changes take place.
Preventing Deaths and Injuries from House Fires: a Cost–benefit Analysis of a Community-based Smoke Alarm Installation Program
Learning Objectives
In this session, participants will:
1. Learn about the economic benefits of a strategic, community-based smoke alarm installation program from a payer perspective and a societal perspective.
Statement of Purpose
Operation Installation (OI), a community-based smoke alarm installation program in Dallas, Texas, targets houses in high-risk urban census tracts. Residents of houses that received OI installation (or program houses) had 68% fewer medically treated house fire injuries (non-fatal and fatal) compared with residents of non-program houses over an average of 5.2 years of follow-up during an effectiveness evaluation conducted from 2001 to 2011. The purpose of this study was to estimate the cost-benefit of OI.
Methods/Approach
A mathematical model incorporated program cost and effectiveness data as directly observed in OI. The estimated cost per smoke alarm installed was based on a retrospective analysis of OI expenditures from administrative records, 2006–2011. Injury incidence assumptions for a population that had the OI program compared with the same population without the OI program was based on the previous OI effectiveness study, 2001–2011. Unit costs for medical care and lost productivity associated with fire injuries were from a national public database.
Results
From a combined payers’ perspective limited to direct program and medical costs, the estimated incremental cost per fire injury averted through the OI installation program was $128,800 (2013 US$). When a conservative estimate of lost productivity among victims was included, the incremental cost per fire injury averted was negative, suggesting long-term cost savings from the program. The OI program from 2001 to 2011 resulted in an estimated net savings of $3.8 million, or a $3.21 return on investment for every dollar spent on the program using a societal cost perspective.
Conclusions & Significance to the Field
This study supports previous studies in estimating that community-based smoke alarm installation programs can be cost saving, or a positive long-term return on investment. This may be a useful tool to decision-makers who are considering the economic benefits of a similar program in their locality. To our knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes the cost benefits of a long-term observational follow-up study of a community smoke alarm installation program with outcome data regarding deaths and injuries in residential house fires. Community smoke alarm installation programs could be cost-beneficial in high-fire-risk neighborhoods over long periods of time.
Presenters
Ms. Merissa Ann Yellman, Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas
Biography
Ms. Merissa Yellman has 7 years of experience in public health, including 4 years in injury/violence prevention. Currently, she is a student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she will be completing a Master’s Degree in Public Health in May of 2017. Prior to becoming a student, Merissa worked for the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas. Her job responsibilities included the implementation and evaluation of community-based interventions related to child passenger safety, pedestrian safety, and other injury topics. From 2010-2012, Merissa served with the Peace Corps as a community health volunteer in Nicaragua. Merissa graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and a minor in Poverty Studies. She became certified as a Child Passenger Safety Technician in May of 2013. She is fully fluent in English and Spanish. Merissa has been a member of the Safe States Alliance for 4 years.
Shelli Stephens-Stidham, MPA, Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas
Biography
Shelli Stephens-Stidham, M.P.A., is the Director of the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas. Ms. Stephens-Stidham has 32 years of experience in public health, including 25 years in injury and violence prevention. She is a past-president of the Safe States Alliance. She served as co-chair of the National Training Initiative for Injury and Violence Prevention, and served on the committee that developed core competencies for injury/violence prevention professionals. She has extensive experience in conducting training programs for injury/violence professionals and has served as a peer reviewer on numerous state and local assessment team visits. She has convened several injury prevention training workshops in collaboration with the U.S. Indian Health Service and tribal governments. She chairs the Texas Governor’s EMS & Trauma Advisory Council (GETAC) Injury Prevention Committee. She is a member of the American Public Health Association, Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research, and the Texas Public Health Association.
Mary A McCoy, MPH, Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas
Biography
Ms. Mary McCoy, MPH, is one of the original staff members of the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas. She joined the Center as a data analyst in 1994. She is responsible for data collecting, evaluation and financial management of the center. Mary also coordinates Operation Installation, smoke detector installation program with the Dallas Fire Department. She holds a Master in Public Health from University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.