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• Injury Prevention through the EMS and Trauma Care System

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Injury Prevention through the Statewide EMS & Trauma Care System

The Injury and Violence Prevention Program works with the Office of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma System.  Injury Prevention is the first component of the EMS/Trauma System. The office manages performance based contracts with the eight EMS/Trauma regions to provide injury prevention programs and activities at the regional and local levels. Those prevention efforts are based on, among other indicators, injury fatality, injury hospitalization and trauma registry data; gaps in prevention services; availability of evidence-based interventions; and strength of community readiness to implement a program. Impaired driving prevention and other traffic safety concerns are a major priority of EMS/Trauma prevention efforts. Further information regarding injury prevention through the Office of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma System is available on this website.

Unintentional Injury

Safe Kids

The Injury and Violence Prevention Program is the lead agency for the Washington State Safe Kids Coalition. The state coalition works with local coalitions to prevent the number one killer of children - unintentional injury. The coalitions work on reducing unintentional injuries in children from birth to 14 years of age by educating adults and children, providing safety devices to families in need, conducting research and data collection, and passing and strengthening laws to empower families and communities to protect children.

• List of local Safe Kids Coordinators
• Leading causes of injuries for children 0-14 years old (Excel, 45 kb)
• Links to Safe Kids related websites
• Washington state map of Safe Kids coalitions

For more information, contact Mary Borges, Washington State Safe Kids Coordinator

Falls Among Older Adults Study

There are more people age 65 and older in Washington hospitalized for injuries due to falls than the number of people, of all ages combined, hospitalized due to motor vehicle crashes. The Injury Prevention Program developed a comprehensive report on senior falls in 2002, which is available on the program website. The Program then obtained a 4-year, $1,000,000 CDC grant to implement and evaluate a community-based senior falls prevention intervention and to develop a model senior fall prevention program in Pierce County.

One of the products of the CDC grant is an information guide for staying active and independent for life, written for adults 65+.  This guide is available on our publications web page.

Violence and Suicide Prevention

Youth Suicide Prevention

The Injury and Violence Prevention Program administers $500,000/biennium for youth suicide prevention efforts statewide. Activities are carried out through a contract and are focused on youth-directed media campaigns, gatekeeper training, and community mobilization. Partnerships with local and state organizations continue to advance these efforts and build a statewide network for suicide prevention. Specific information about youth suicide prevention and intervention can be found at the Youth Suicide Prevention Program website.

Sexual Assault Prevention

Through an interagency agreement with the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy in the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, the Injury and Violence Prevention Program supports local and statewide efforts in the area of sexual assault prevention. The primary goal of this program is to engage communities so that they address community norms that foster sexual violence and work toward preventing sexual assault. A great deal of work is done through the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs and through local sexual assault programs and other community based organizations. Funding to support these efforts come from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Safe Storage of Firearms

The Injury and Violence Prevention Program strives to prevent injuries and deaths caused by loaded and unlocked firearms. To do this work, strategies to promote the safe storage of firearms are promoted by working with local health departments, Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, Children’s Regional Medical Center and other state partners. The key message of the campaign is to have gun owners lock all firearms in a lock box or safe after removing the ammunition. Ammunition should be stored in a separate location, also locked up. More information can be obtained by going to the LOKITUP website or by calling the toll-free information line: 1-877-LOKITUP (1-877-565-4887).

Data Requests and Analysis

Online Data Tables

Over two hundred injury data tables are available on our website in PDF and Excel formats.  The tables cover injury deaths and nonfatal injury hospitalizations.  This data is broken down by geographic location (county or EMS region), year, cause and age group.

Specialized Data Requests

If the Injury and Prevention Program's online data tables do not provide you with the data you need, you can submit a data request to the Injury Data Manager, Jethro DeLisle, at injury.data@doh.wa.gov or at 360-236-2867. These data requests are usually filled within four business days.

Injury Data Analysis

The Injury and Violence Prevention Program has developed a series of reports on high priority injury issues in Washington.  These reports can be found on our publications web page.

Links to external resources are provided as a public service and do not imply endorsement by the Washington State Department of Health.