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7 injury prevention interventions

Nonprofit leaders are generally aware of the need to prevent injury, either on the job or among constituents. They might not be aware of how to go about putting injury prevention into practice.

In their book “Grass Roots Injury Prevention” Diana Samarakkody, Elizabeth Davis and Rod McClure emphasize just what the title says: Grass Roots Injury Prevention (GRIP). They wrote that putting injury prevention into place requires thinking about eh following issues:

  • What is the target group at which the intervention is aimed (e.g. school children, old people, young people)?
  • Where are we going to carry out the intervention (e.g. schools, homes, workplaces)?
  • What have others done to address the same injury/ies? That is, success stories from other communities.
  • Are the interventions suitable for our community? Think of culture, beliefs, community structure, facilities available, level of education.
  • How are we going to modify the interventions to suit our community? Think of local expertise, locally available less-expensive materials, local regulations and processes for supporting safe behavior.
  • Are there several interventions to address one injury type at the same time (e.g. educate the people, make changes in the environment, enforce laws, make policy changes)?
  • Do we have the resources to carry out the interventions (e.g. people or funding)?