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.
Utilizing North Carolina Division of Public Health Injury Data to Support Community Prevention Efforts Around Fall Related Injuries among Older Adults
Learning Objectives
- Demonstrate the usefulness of the CDC’s Injury Special Emphasis Report templates for disseminating Injury Data
- Describe the partnerships between the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch within the NC Division of Public Health and community partners working in falls prevention, and how these partnerships have facilitated the use of injury data
Statement of Purpose
Unintentional falls are a leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injury in the US and in NC. Dissemination of data is needed to bring attention to the issue and drive decisions related to the prioritization of populations and prevention programs. The Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (IVPB) within the NC Division of Public Health has worked to make data accessible to community partners to support their work and help direct prevention efforts.
Methods/Approach
The IVPB utilized the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Injury Special Emphasis Report (SER) template for fall injuries among older adults to create and disseminate a tool to move falls injury data into action. The report was shared on the IVPB website and presented at a NC Falls Prevention Coalition Meeting. IVPB maintains relationships with community partners involved in falls prevention work, and helps with data requests as needed. IVPB recently created a map for Healthy Aging NC, the state’s resource center for evidence-based falls prevention programs, to depict rates of unintentional fall deaths by county.
Results
Presenting the SER at the Falls Prevention Coalition meeting exposed hospital representatives, emergency services providers, physical and occupational therapists, as well as Area Agencies on Aging to the large burden of fall-related injuries in NC. Data requested from IVPB has also been used in falls prevention interventions. Healthy Aging NC used the map of unintentional fall deaths to educate a variety of clinical and community partners across NC. In addition, the map has influenced Healthy Aging NC’s decision to target a geographic area with high unintentional fall death rates in a federal grant proposal that will embed evidence-based falls prevention programs into an integrated and sustainable prevention program network.
Conclusions & Significance to the Field
Strong connections between state departments of health and community partners working in the field are crucial. With rates of fall related injuries rapidly increasing, it becomes even more important for the dissemination of data to programs who can use it to inform prevention efforts, target groups at greatest risk, advocate for attention to the issue, and mobilize partners to join the prevention effort.
Presenters
Shana Geary, NC Division of Public Health, Injury and Violence Prevention Branch
Biography
Ms. Shana Geary is a Council for State and Territorial Epidemiology (CSTE) Applied Epidemiology Fellow placed in the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch at the North Carolina Division of Public Health. The Fellowship is a national program to build and strengthen applied epidemiology capacity in state and local health departments. Shana is working with the NC Violent Death Reporting System and other surveillance systems on injury surveillance and improving this surveillance across systems. Shana graduated with her Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology and Maternal and Child Health from the University of South Florida College of Public Health.