Posted: 10/24/2019
Center helps prevent unintentional injuries, violence from occurring
The year was 1994. The cost for a gallon of regular gasoline was less than $1.50. Forrest Gump won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Houston Rockets won the NBA Championship and the Dallas Cowboys were Super Bowl Champions.
That same year, rates for trauma were rising, whether due to unintentional injuries such as motor vehicle crashes, residential house fires, drowning, etc. or due to violence including death by suicide, child abuse and domestic violence, among others.
To combat the increasing number of trauma cases, Parkland Health & Hospital System and a group of Dallas health leaders decided to take a different approach to the problem and established the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas (IPC). The IPC, which is housed at Parkland, was established to move “upstream” to prevent unintentional injuries and violence from ever occurring.
“While medical care is important, it does not address the underlying cause of disease or injuries and violence and is not the primary determinant of health,” said Shelli Stephens-Stidham, IPC director. “That’s why Parkland continues to apply the same commitment to evidence-based practice and innovation that has made our hospital a leader in trauma care and treatment to keeping our citizens safe and healthy in the community, and out of the hospital.”
The Injury Prevention Center is not based in the traditional healthcare setting, rather the staff work in the community at large and in neighborhoods that need the most assistance. This approach reaches people who might not be touched by the usual healthcare system, Stephens-Stidham said. Primary prevention in the community is also the most effective and cost-effective strategy, resulting in the highest savings relative to its cost.
The IPC has a rich history and its prevention efforts continue to yield results. In the 25 years since the IPC was established, the staff has used data to determine injury and violence prevention priorities, collaborated with partners and stakeholders to implement evidence-informed prevention strategies, and evaluated those strategies to verify and monitor effectiveness. As a result, more than 50,000 smoke alarms have been installed in high-risk neighborhoods.
“More importantly, deaths due to residential fires is 62% lower among houses that received the smoke alarms,” Stephens-Stidham noted.
More than 23,000 child passenger safety seats and booster seats have been distributed to families in need resulting in 17% increase in booster seat usage and nearly a 58% increase in child passenger safety seat use, she said. In addition, there has been a 33% lower motor vehicle crash death rates among infants and children less than 9 years of age. IPC staff has trained 324 nationally-certified child passenger safety technicians.
“Our efforts have increased booster seat use by an average of 21 percentage points and decreased texting and driving by 6.3 percentage points. We’ve worked with partners to improve safety in areas of Dallas with high incidence of pedestrian injuries and deaths,” Stephens-Stidham said. “We’ve provided education about abusive head trauma among infants to more than 34,500 families of newborns delivered at Parkland.”
IPC’s efforts have been highlighted at numerous national and international conferences and the staff has published more than 25 scientific peer-reviewed articles about the center’s activities. For its work, IPC has received numerous local and national awards.
“We remain grateful to the founders of the Injury Prevention Center and all of our partners in Dallas County for making Dallas a safer community,” Stephens-Stidham said. “We look forward to an even safer future.”
For more information on the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas, please visit www.injurypreventioncenter.org. For information about services available at Parkland, visit www.parklandhospital.com