Injury Prevention

To reduce the number of injuries in the home and neighborhoods by promoting safety and injury prevention awareness among the York community. The Health Bureau focuses on falls prevention in older adults, suicide prevention in teenagers, and unintentional injuries in youth.

Hundreds of York City residents sustain serious harm each year as a result of unintentional injuries that occur in the home, at the workplace, in schools, at playgrounds, and on the streets. Many injuries and even deaths are preventable.

Intentional injuries caused by acts of violence are increasingly recognized as a national public health concern. Abuse not only causes mental and physical pain, and in rare instances death, it also scars people emotionally to the point of their becoming abusers or perpetrators. This cycle may end up continuing from generation to generation. Violence can include firearm injuries and deaths, domestic violence, child abuse (both physical & sexual), and suicide. All forms of violence significantly increase the toll of human misery.

The Injury Prevention Program is designed to reduce both unintentional and intentional injuries in the home and throughout the community. Education is provided through one-on-one activities of staff, as well as through community awareness activities. Along with education, it is important that policy and environmental changes be made, too.

Community Health Specialists from the Bureau of Health are involved in the York Safe Kids Coalition to promote child passenger safety use, bike helmet use, and pedestrian safety through community events and awareness campaigns.

To schedule an educational presentation, meeting, or request some resources contact the Health Bureau at 717-849-2252.
 

Additional Injury Prevention resources:

Safe Kids Worldwide - www.safekids.org

PA Safe Kids Coalition - www.pasafekids.org

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Injury Prevention & Control - www.cdc.gov/injury/index.html
 

To learn more about the local Safe Kids Coalition in York, visit http://www.wellspan.org/body.cfm?id=118&oTopID=118 or call
717-851-3222.

Injury Prevention Programs:

A Matter of Balance
This program is an evidence-based fall prevention program, that addresses the fear of falling, while incorporating physical activity into the participant's daily lifestyle. People ages 55 and older should consider taking the Matter of Balance class. If you are 1) concerned about falls, 2) interested in improving balance, strength, flexibility, and coordination, 3) have fell in the past, 4) have restricted your activities because of falling, and/or 5) just want to have fun, then this may be the program for you! The program runs for 8 weeks, 1 session per week. Classes are 2 hours in length and healthy snacks are provided during each session. There is a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 12 participants in each class. At the end of the 8-week program, participants will earn a certificate for completing the program, prizes, and a voucher to receive one piece of injury prevention equipment for the home (limited supplies). This is a FREE program offered by the York City Bureau of Health. If you are interested in forming a class, please contact Tamara Ramer at 717-845-6532 for more information.

Lifelines Curriculum
This program is a comprehensive school-based approach to suicide prevention that prepares the whole school community. Lifelines provides suicide awareness materials for administrators, faculty and staff, parents, and students. The objectives of the curriculum are to increase the likelihood that: 1) members of the school community can more readily identify potentially suicidal students, know how to initially respond to them, and how to quickly get them help; and 2) troubled students are aware of and have immediate access to resources that can help them or a friend and seek the help as an alternative to suicidal actions. If you are interested in learning more about the Lifelines Curriculum and how to implement it in your school, please contact Tamara Ramer at 717-845-6532 for more information.

Risk Watch Program
This is a comprehensive injury prevention program designed for use in classrooms. Risk Watch aims at connecting teachers with the safety experts within the York community. This program will effectively teach children and their families the knowledge and skills they need in order to be safe from the areas where they are at the highest risk to unintentional injuries. There are five teaching modules: Pre-K/Kindergarten, 1st-2nd Grade, 3rd-4th Grade, 5th-6th Grade, and 7th-8th Grade). Each of the teaching modules will cover the following topic areas: 1) motor vehicle safety, 2) poisoning prevention, 3) falls prevention, 4) water safety, 5) fire & burn prevention, 6) choking, strangulation, & suffocation prevention, 7) firearms injury prevention, and 8) bike & pedestrian safety. For more information on bringing Risk Watch into your school, early learning center, or boys/girls club, please contact Katie Morton at 717-846-6730 for more information.

Coalitions:

Senior Outreach Services (SOS)
One of our Community Health Specialist's chairs a coalition called Senior Outreach Services (SOS). This coalition is made up of various agencies and organizations throughout York County that serve the older adult population. SOS meets the second Wednesday of every month from 12:00-1:30pm, at varying host locations. The mission of the SOS Coalition is to adopt a holistic and collaborative approach to service; SOS partners will create initiatives and events that generate a positive impact on senior citizens in York County. SOS seeks to unite all community partners that serve the senior population in York County. The coalition shares local and current events, ideas, statistics, and happenings that impact our aging population. By sharing our respective resources in a collaborative fashion, we believe our targeted audience will be exposed to more of the health and human services available in the county. SOS holds FREE health fairs for the older adult population, as well as for those who are caregivers of older adults. Please contact Tamara Ramer at 717-845-6532 for more information or to schedule a health fair.
 

Child Abuse Prevention/Outreach Committee (CAPOC)
One of our Community Health Specialist's co-chairs a coalition called the Child Abuse Prevention/Outreach Committee (CAPOC) with York County Children, Youth, & Families. CAPOC holds annual awareness walks and participates in various outreach events throughout York City/County. If you would like to donate to the CAPOC coalition to help them purchase materials to distribute community-wide and for their annual child abuse awareness walk, please make checks payable to Children's Home of York and add in the memo line "CAPOC." We appreciate all your help and support! Please contact Tamara Ramer at 717-845-6532 for more information.

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