Nebraska Injury Prevention and Control News
    Issue #72                                                    August 2017
Injury Prevention in the News

11-Year-Old Boy's Invention Could Prevent Heatstroke Deaths  


"Since 1994, 804 children have died from heat-related illnesses in cars in the U.S., according to Kids and Cars, an advocacy center that studies the issue. In about 55 percent of those cases, the parent was unaware the child was in the vehicle, they say." Click here  to learn about how a young boy took action after hearing a local report of a 6-month-old who died when left alone in a car. 


Concussion Can Spur Short-Term, Abnormal Menstrual Patterns
 In a recent study experts found that adolescent and young women have significantly increased odds of multiple, abnormal menstrual patterns following concussion, compared to those with an orthopedic injury.  View the full article here

  New Study Highlights Role of Intimate Partner Violence in Homicides of Women
  CDC released a new article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Racial/Ethnic Differences in Homicides of Adult Women and the Role of Intimate Partner Violence—National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), 2003-2014. The article discusses findings from a study of female homicides over the period of 2003-2014 from NVDRS (18 states). Key Findings
  • Non-Hispanic black and American Indian/Alaskan Native women had the highest rates of homicide victimization.
  • Nearly one third of adult female homicide victims were aged 18-29 years
  • More than half of the adult female homicides with known circumstances were intimate partner violence (IPV) related.
  • Among IPV-related homicides, about 80% were committed by a current intimate partner and about 14% were committed by a former intimate partner.
Homicide continues to be a leading cause of death for women aged 44 years and younger. To inform homicide and intimate partner violence prevention efforts, evidence-based programs and policies are needed to prevent IPV from occurring in the first place. CDC’s latest technical package, Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Across the Lifespan: A Technical Package of Programs, Policy, and Practices includes a collection of strategies that represent the best available evidence to help states and communities prioritize efforts to prevent intimate partner violence.
Upcoming Events
Concussion Discussion
All children are susceptible to concussions. Learn how to keep our children healthy and active.
Tuesday, September 7 | Fremont | 6:00-7:30 p.m. Learn more about event here.

2017 Child Passenger Safety Trainings
Are you interested in helping parents and care givers of children with their car seats? If you are, then sign up for one of the child passenger safety technician courses listed below. Space is limited to 20 participants per class. Visit the National CPS certification website to  find out more about what a CPS does.    


Lincoln, September 20-23, 2017

Now open for online registration.



Safe Kids Nebraska
Heat Stroke Awareness

Since 1998, 701 children have died due to heatstroke after being left or trapped in a hot vehicle. Learn the facts and follow these tips so you can protect your family.
Back to School Month  
Every hour, nearly 50 children visit emergency departments with an injury related to bikes, scooters, skates or skateboards. August is Back to School Month and a reminder to Walk, Bike, and Ride to school safely.  Click here for more wheeled sports safety facts. 

Motor Vehicle Safety
Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over  
Beginning August 16th until September 4th, 2017, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) deploys their national enforcement of Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over focused on motorcycle riders. Forty-three percent of motorcycle riders who died in single vehicle crashes in 2014 were alcohol-impaired (NHTSA). The campaign runs simultaneously with the "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" enforcement which focuses on drunk drivers. Read more here.
 
 NHTSA and the Ad Council have Launched a series of Public Service Ads in Time for Child Passenger Safety Week 
September 17-23 and National Seat Check Saturday (9/23). The PSAs "urge parents and caregivers to protect their child’s future at every stage of life, by making sure they secure them in the correct car seat for their age, height, and weight." A wide variety of resources are available including animated banner ads, news releases, infographics, and more. See more here.    
    NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts: Young Drivers   
Teen Driver Safety Week, coming up in October, focuses on young drivers, parental involvement, and Nebraska's Graduated Driver Licensing. On average two teens die on Nebraska roads every month.  Find more Traffic Safety Facts here 
GHSA Applauds NTSB for Raising Profile of Speeding
as Highway Safety Risk
Speeding is often a forgotten issue  

Statement for attribution to
Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) Executive Director Jonathan Adkins
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) thanks the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for studying and evaluating approaches to reduce speeding-related traffic crashes and raising awareness of this critical safety issue. Speeding is a factor in approximately the same proportion of traffic fatalities as alcohol impairment (27% and 29%, respectively, in 2015), yet it is not subject to same social stigma as drunk driving and is often a forgotten highway safety problem despite its clear significance.
 
This NTSB action should spur responses at the national, state and local levels to prioritize addressing excessive vehicle speeds along with other pressing traffic safety problems. National leaders must come together to develop best practices and programs to deter drivers from speeding and prevent the crashes, injuries and fatalities that too often result.
 
We know from experience that sustained, high visibility enforcement efforts - including automated speed enforcement - coupled with strong public awareness campaigns can truly make a difference. GHSA urges law enforcement leaders across the country to ramp up speeding enforcement to help protect the citizens they serve. GHSA calls for a national speeding enforcement campaign similar to Click It or Ticket and Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over to bring this issue on par with seat belt use and drunk driving prevention.
 
Addressing speeding-related deaths must be a centerpiece of any national effort to reduce all roadway fatalities. We look forward to working with our partners to continue to elevate the issue of speeding and, ultimately, influence drivers' decisions to slow down and save lives.

Contact: Kara Macek, kmacek@ghsa.org
202-789-0942 x140


Nebraska Safety and Law Facts
Each year the Occupant Protection Division, with assistance from NCSA, updates the Secondary Law Fact Sheets to explain the benefits of upgrading to primary seat belt laws.  Specific fact sheets are developed for each secondary law state.
Download the primary seat belt law fact sheet here or download Nebraska safety facts here.
  Older Adult Falls 
  Falls Prevention Resources for Older Adults and Caregivers
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) recently updated a current list of falls prevention resources including links to brochures, tip sheets, videos, blogs, exercise and physical activity guidebooks, motivational flyers, success stories and more.

Find selected fall prevention materials from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Philips Lifeline, Go4Life, National Institute on Aging (NIA), American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Eldercare, and Mayo Clinic.


The resource list can be found here.

  2017 Falls Free® Photo and Story Contest
Please find details regarding the 2017 Falls Free® Video Contest at this website.

  NCOA’s Falls Free® Initiative is hosting the 2017 Falls Free® Photo and Story Contest! We’re looking for high quality, positive images of older adults engaged in a variety of falls prevention activities, such as evidence-based falls prevention classes. Each photo entry must be accompanied by a brief story (<300 words) that describes the photo and its falls prevention significance. The contest winners will be awarded prizes, and their photos and stories will be used to increase awareness about falls prevention.   Contest details and rules are available here. Please submit all photos, stories, and NCOA signed consent forms online to Survey Monkey by August 25th at 11:59pm ET   

Falls Prevention Awareness Day

September 22, 2017

The 2016 Falls Prevention Awareness Day Compendium was released in June.  It’s exciting to see the growth of Fall Prevention programs and activities across the country! The full compendium is available for download at the following: https://www.ncoa.org/resources/falls-prevention-awareness-day-2016-compendium-state-national-activities/

For information on activities planned in Nebraska, contact Greta Glenn at greta.glenn@nebraska.gov


Concussion
Concussion Handbook
Experts from Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Concussion Centre have created a handbook for parents and kids to help with concussion management and recovery.  They have both English and French versions of the handbook, and they can be downloaded for free.
    Concussion and You  
Free online support sessions delivered by our leading concussion experts. These sessions are a live webinar where families can receive support and education on concussion management from a member of the concussion team. More information can be found here
Prescription Drug Overdose
Associations Between Physical Pain, Pain Management, and Frequency of Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use Among Young Adults 

Objectives: We sought to determine sex-specific associations between experiences of physical pain, pain management, and frequency of nonmedical prescription opioid (NMPO) use among young adults.


Click here to learn more about the Methods, Results, and Conclusions of this research.


(C) 2017 American Society of Addiction Medicine

The Role of Science in Addressing the Opioid Crisis
The New England Journal of Medicine presents a recent study depicting ways to combat Opioid misuse including; Overdose-Reversal Interventions, Treatments for Opioid Addiction,  Non-addictive Treatments for Chronic Pain, and  Public-Private Partnerships. See the full article here

From the National Institute on Drug Abuse (N.D.V.), and the Office of the Director (F.S.C.), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
Training Tomorrow's Physicians to Help Reverse the Opioid Epidemic   
"Communities in northeast Ohio are affected daily by the rising incidence of opioid overdoses. The Cuyahoga Medical Examiner’s Office reported at least 61 heroin- or fentanyl-related deaths in a single month earlier this year. The alarming death rate brings the gravity of the situation home to physicians in the area.

“There’s no more playing around with this,” said Jason Jerry, MD, until recently an addiction psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic’s Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center. Dr. Jerry, now with FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, N.C., is a recognized leader in efforts to curb opioid abuse and misuse, and he and his colleagues use medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to help patients with substance-use disorders through recovery. They have cared for patients with opioid substance issues since the mid-1990s....."


Read the full article here

 
Trauma
Think Sports Injuries as Athletes Return to Play
Very soon children, teenagers, and young adults will be returning to school.  Team sports are an activity that more and more children are partaking in each year.  While sports help children stay fit, feel good about themselves, and teach them about competition, it also increases their risks of injury. As students are preparing for their return to these activities take this time to assist in their preparation with education. Frequently athletes of all ages suffer from common injuries such as sprains and strains, fractures and even concussions.  What can be done to reduce these injuries? How can we prevent or help athletes prepare for this sports season? Consider educating athletes, parents and coaches on sports related injury prevention and concussions.  
Below are a few resources: 

American Academy of Pediatrics – 2017 Sports Injury Prevention

https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/news-features-and-safety-tips/pages/Sports-Injury-Prevention-Tip-Sheet.aspx


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- Sports Safety https://www.cdc.gov/safechild/sports_injuries/index.html


Nebraska DHHS Injury Prevention Program on Concussions

http://dhhs.ne.gov/publichealth/concussion/Pages/Home.aspx


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- Heads Up Campaign https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/index.html


Safe Kids Worldwide – Preventing Sports Related Injuries https://www.safekids.org/preventing-sports-related-injuries 

 

For more information please contact Crystal Dailey RN, NE DHHS Trauma Nurse Specialist, 402-722-4300 or crystal.dailey@nebraska.gov


Quick Links
Contact Information

Peg Ogea-Ginsburg, MA                  
Injury Prevention Program Coordinator   


Jason Kerkman, MPH 
Safe Kids Nebraska Coordinator 


Amy Reynoldson
Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention Coordinator


Jeanne Bietz, MA                                             Motor Vehicle Policy Grant Project Coordinator  jeanne.bietz@nebraska.gov


Ashley Newmyer, MPH, CPH
Epidemiology Surveillance Coordinator

Felicia Quintana-Zinn, MS, MBA
Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention Epidemiologist
Felicia.Quintana-Zinn@nebraska.gov

Celeste Reker, MPH                                                 Crash Outcome Data Evaluation Data Analyst    Celeste.Reker@nebraska.gov

Injury Prevention and Control E-News is a monthly newsletter distributed to partners of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Injury Prevention and Control Program.