Greater Dallas Injury Prevention Center TEXAS

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

In 1987, the National Center for Health Statistics ranked Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas as the most dangerous metropolitan area in the United States in which to drive an automobile. Within specific populations in Dallas County, injury rates from other causes such as burns, falls, drownings, and poisonings are also particularly high. Each year in Dallas County, three persons per thousand population will be a victim of major injury, three times the national average. In 1991, Dallas County experienced a 38 percent increase in the number of serious injuries over previous years. Deaths and hospitalizations due to injuries reached the highest levels in recent history. The 1991 peak in injury rates remained the highest Dallas had experienced until 1994, when the rates reached another all-time high.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Greater Dallas Injury Prevention Center (GDIPC) is to help reduce injury rates in targeted communities in Dallas County. Specific objectives include:

Identifying the specific injury prevention needs of various communities

Acting as a catalyst to encourage injury prevention work in communities

Matching community needs with resources of safety organizations

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

Over 100 community leaders from the health care, business, religious, and social services sectors met between November 1991 and November 1992 to forge a strategy to address the injury epidemic in Dallas effectively. Establishment of the Greater Dallas Injury Prevention Center (GDIPC) was a result of those meetings. It serves as a resource center for new and existing injury prevention programs throughout Dallas, and helps stimulate injury prevention activities within communities. The Safe Communities Executive Advisory Committee (SCEAC), composed of approximately 50 community

Greater Dallas Injury Prevention Center (GDIPC) (cont'd)

leaders, advises the GDIPC on matters of interest and significance to Dallas and establishes the priorities of individual injury prevention efforts.

The strategy of the GDIPC is based on the World Health Organization's "Safe Communities" philosophy that community level programs are fundamental to reducing and preventing injuries. GDIPC matches the resources of existing safety-related organizations such as SafeKids, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Texas Safety Association, American Automobile Association (AAA), and the Academy of Pediatrics, with the injury-related needs of various communities. GDIPC also evaluates the effectiveness of each previously-tested intervention. When effective injury prevention resources are not available locally, the GDIPC helps communities identify model programs elsewhere. Upon a community's acceptance of a model program, the GDIPC helps "customize" the intervention to the particular community's needs/wishes. In instances where no known interventions exist, the GDIPC coordinates academic and community resources to develop and test new interventions.

RESULTS

In the area of traffic safety, GDIPC recently completed the Don't Wreck Your Week Campaign, a public information program for the City of Dallas that primarily targeted African American and Hispanic populations. The project included press events, crash displays at local malls, corporate sponsored presentations, and radio and television spots. Project personnel are currently evaluating the results of that campaign. Two zip code areas have been identified as target areas for a fall prevention campaign for the elderly. The zip codes were selected on the basis of an identified need for that type of program in those areas. Assessment of that campaign's success will occur after it has been in place for 12 months. GDIPC's statistical impact on overall injury rates in the Dallas County area will be assessed after the program has been in operation for about five years. The GDIPC is also working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSAs) Region VI office to expand the program on a regional level.