Community Injury Prevention
In Kentucky, KIPRC’s Community Injury Prevention programs are working to make our state and communities safer places to live, work, and play. Injuries are when the human body is exposed to harm or functional impairment and can be unintentional (e.g., motor vehicle crashes and falls) or intentional (e.g., child maltreatment and suicide). KIPRC’s Community Injury Prevention programs work to address the most pressing injury issues individuals face throughout their lifespan; our injury focus areas are identified through population-based data (e.g., death certificates and hospital discharge records). We implement, evaluate, and promote strategies (i.e., education, policy, and evidence-based and –informed programs) with our community partners and coalitions in order to prevent injury and mitigate injury-related outcomes (e.g., deaths, emergency department visits, inpatient hospitalizations, and monetary costs) at the local and state levels.
Community Injury PreventionPrograms
The Kentucky Surveillance Quality Improvement (SQI) Program, along with similar programs in Colorado, Massachusetts, and Maryland, is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve our methodology for conducting injury surveillance.
The Kentucky Violence and Injury Prevention Program (KVIPP) supports the implementation and evaluation of several injury prevention programs, with priority focus given to the prevention of motor vehicle crashes, sexual assault/interpersonal violence, suicide, child maltreatment, traumatic brain injuries, older adult falls, residential fire injuries, adverse childhood experiences, child home injuries, and substance.
The Kentucky Injury Prevention Research Center provides consulting services for the Department for Public Health’s Child Fatality Review and Injury Prevention Program, in addition to local injury prevention coalitions, safety advocacy groups and others who are working to address injury problems at the community level.
This program works with fire departments, health departments, and other local agencies and service organizations to provide smoke alarms for low income households as well as households with particularly vulnerable residents such as the very young, elderly, and those with disabilities.