Injury Prevention Projects By Heidi J. Kuran Blood Tribe "PARTY" Program Learn Not to Burn® - "Wisdom of the Fire" Safe Communities   Injury Prevention Projects To date, many injury prevention projects have focused on increasing awareness about the injury problem among Aboriginal people, developing culturally appropriate resources and developing basic injury prevention skills among community-based practitioners. The current impact of these efforts is starting to emerge in the form of community-based and provincial/territorial level initiatives but the impact is not uniform across First Nations and Inuit people. Activities at all levels continue to be critical to building capacity to act on injury and while these activities are an excellent start, much work is still needed. Listed is a partial list of national milestones, which have contributed to building momentum among First Nations and Inuit people across the country to act on injury. First Nations and Inuit Health Programs, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada have supported these milestones, in whole or in part: - 1993/1994 (national training initiative) Three-Day Injury Prevention Workshop designed for Aboriginal practitioners and delivered across Canada. The purpose of the training was to increase awareness about the injury problem while offering practical community development tools. - 1995 (practical reference document) Injury Prevention in First Nations Populations. This reference document was based on a 1993 study, which examined and critiqued the literature related to injury prevention projects within native communities. - 1995 (practical reference guide) Injury Prevention: A Guide for Aboriginal Communities. The guide was developed to walk users through steps in the development and implementation of a successful injury prevention program at the community level. - 1994/1995/1996 (injury surveillance project) Surveillance Tool for Aboriginal Communities. The overall goal of the project was to develop a surveillance tool that would be user-friendly, practical and appropriate for use by Aboriginal communities. The tool was designed so that communities could independently collect and analyze injury data specific to their community. - 1996 (first national conference) First National Aboriginal Injury Prevention Conference, in Canada. This was the first national injury prevention conference organized by Aboriginal practitioners, in partnership with the Alberta Injury Prevention Centre of Alberta, (now known as the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research, ACICR). The conference was designed to promote information sharing, networking, and learning through the presentation of success stories. - 1999 (second national conference) Continuing the Journey to Safe Aboriginal Communities. The focus of the second national conference, supported by the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research, was practical hands-on skills development workshops that provided a 10-step framework for participants to apply to any injury problem. - 1999 (electronic knowledge map, pilot project) Aboriginal Injury Surveillance and Prevention Knowledge Map. The pilot project is focused on developing and testing the viability of an electronic information dissemination vehicle for injury.   Injury Prevention Initiatives Working in Communities Blood Tribe "PARTY" Program The Blood Tribe in Alberta has garnered national attention for their extremely successful variation on the existing PARTY program (Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth). The program's emphasis is on the serious consequences of drinking and operating motorized vehicles, of failing to wear seat belts or helmets, or of making poor choices and taking unnecessary risks leading to injury or death. The students learn from professional and community volunteers: paramedics, emergency doctors, injury survivors, nurses, therapists and police officers. The PARTY presentation format varies in different communities but includes an introduction to the roles of police and paramedics in the event of an accident. It also provides exposure to emergency physicians and tours of the emergency department and intensive care units in local hospitals. The PARTY program has been in effect in Lethbridge, Alberta for seven years but only now has it been customized to be culturally specific for the Blood Tribe youth in Standoff. The Blood Tribe PARTY program is the only one in Canada delivered to an Aboriginal community by its own members. A total of 65 youths have taken part in the program since it was launched about a year ago. The program incorporates native traditions, language and beliefs and is facilitated by native personnel. Its success comes from a coordinated effort between local native agencies and leaders in the community. The Blood initiative was developed in response to the high number of car crashes on reserve that involve young people and alcohol. In a 10-month period between 1997 and 1998, there were five alcohol-related incidents that left six people dead and two permanently disabled. All of the victims were young - under the age of 25. This is especially poignant in a small community where almost half of the 7,000 people who live on the reserve are under the age of 20. Given alcohol-related accident statistics, up to three members of every Grade 12 class could die in an alcohol-related incident before graduating. The Blood PARTY team includes a registered nurse, a Blood Tribe Ambulance paramedic and Blood Tribe police constables who all live on the reserve. In addition, a Blood Elder contributes to the program along with a tribe member who has suffered spinal-cord damage in an alcohol-related car accident. The PARTY team has been invited to visit six Aboriginal communities in Western Canada to show people there how to run their own programs. Other requests have come from bands in central British Columbia and Saskatchewan. For their efforts and vision in injury control, the PARTY team was nominated for and won the Canadian Centre for Injury Control and Research "Innovation Award" in Kananaskis in October 2000. Learn Not to Burn® - "Wisdom of the Fire" The Learn Not to Burn (LNTB) program has been part of the National Fire Protection Association's public fire safety education initiatives for twenty years. LNTB teaches children in preschool through grade nine critical life and fire safety skills through the program's education materials. In Canada, children have the highest rates of injury and death from fire. Since the LNTB program was introduced in Canada, fire death and injury rates have dropped among children. The curriculum consists of 22 key fire safety behaviors and is organized in three learning levels: PRIORITY 1 - PROTECTION When Fire Occurs: 1. Responds correctly during fire and smoke drills at school 2. Uses a home escape plan 3. Identifies exit signs and knows two ways out in public places 4. Perform the crawl-low-in-smoke procedure 5. Reports fire and smoke immediately 6. Performs the STOP, DROP and ROLL procedure 7. Initiates first aid practices for burns. PRIORITY 2 - PREVENTION Before Fire Occurs: 8. Uses matches and lighters safely 9. Practices kitchen safety 10. Practices fire safety around heating sources 11. Practices fire safety with flammable liquids 12. Practices outdoor fire safety 13. Practices fire safety with small electrical appliances 14. Participates in home hazards inspections 15. Practices Holiday fire safety 16. Follows fire safety procedures when babysitting 17. Practices scald and contact burn prevention PRIORITY 2 - PERSUASION 18. Encourages fire safe smoking habits 19. Installs and maintains smoke detectors 20. Practices outdoor electrical safety 21. Recognizes the fire department as a partner in community services 22. Recognizes the danger of false alarms The curriculum is intended for use by individual teachers in planning classroom activities and can be re-used from year to year. In British Columbia, Jackie Hans, the Fire Safety Education Coordinator of the First Nations Emergency Services Society (FNESS) has implemented the LNTB program in 50 of the 198 band schools in the province. She is on a steering committee that has plans to expand the program further with a First Nations perspective called "Wisdom of the Fire". "Wisdom of the Fire" would encompass all of the fundamentals in the LNTB program, with culturally specific elements such as an opening ceremony where the children could invite parents, Elders, Chiefs and other community members to attend. The band school teachers themselves decide how the program would best suit their community from a cultural perspective - it may be translated into local languages and include local customs. At the closing ceremony, the children receive a certificate to indicate they have graduated from the training. The "Wisdom of the Fire" program, once implemented, would follow a plan of first being put into practice in all band-operated schools that have a fire department on reserve. The next phase of implementation would be in all band schools with or without a fire department on reserve. The goal of FNESS is to act as a resource to the public educators from First Nations communities that take on the role of teaching the "Wisdom of the Fire" program or helping band school teachers deliver it to their classes. Safe Communities World Health Organization The Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario will be hosting the World Health Organization's 11th International Conference on Safe Communities on May 7- 9, 2002. It is projected that in 2002, Rainy River will receive its "Safe Communities Designation" from the World Health Organization. To achieve this prestigious title from WHO, the Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition and the Rainy River Future Development Corp. have implemented health and safety programs in the community. The mandate of the Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition is to develop effective injury prevention and safety programs on an individual and community based level within the Rainy River District. In November 1997, the Rainy River District was officially named as a Safe Community by the Safe Communities Foundation Canada. The SCF, a national, non-profit organization, launched its first safe community in Ontario in April 1996. The ultimate goal of the SCF is to create thousands of "safe communities" from east to west, creating a Canada-wide safety culture. The Rainy River District could not have achieved their "safe" designation without the entire community's commitment to creating a safer place to live. For example, since 1993, Abitibi-Consolidated's Fort Frances paper mill in the Rainy River District has had a "safety bucks" program as a workplace and community incentive model. As the mill maintains or increases the number of hours it operates without lost time due to injuries, employees receive safety bucks for merchandise at participating businesses. Fewer injuries mean lower workers' compensation costs, and the savings are put back into the local economy through safety bucks. Injuries on the job and at home take money away from the community. If people have to leave or are off for medical treatment, their earnings do not circulate in the community. There are economic impacts on businesses. The Rainy River District has also invested in projects to improve safety in playgrounds, schools and homes with as much as $10,000 to improve playground facilities.