Updated Jan. 8, 2015
the sponsors of the annual Nicholas Rosecrans Award for Excellence in Injury Prevention by an EMS Agency recognized two agencies. In addition to Piedmont EMS, organizers Paul Maxwell and Lynn Artz Rosecrans recognized the Richmond (Va.) Ambulance Authority (RAA) for its outstanding work, with Rob Lawrence, RAA’s chief operating officer, receiving the award.
What set Richmond apart was not just a single initiative, Maxwell said, but like Piedmont EMS, a commitment to ensuring that injury prevention is embraced by EMS as a public health necessity. That commitment has taken a variety of forms, including:
Rider Alert This was a simple solution to a major problem. In the event of a motorcycle crash, who can talk to the EMS provider if the rider cannot? A card, filled in with key information to aid the first responder, is inserted inside a rider’s helmet. The program has a variety of sponsors and public safety partners, and has achieved global outreach.
Crossing Alert Richmond was experiencing a significant number of pedestrian injuries, with one occurring nearly every three days. Data analysis identified traffic “hotspots” and high-risk areas, as well as specific demographics to target messages. The RAA Crossing Alert program was created to raise awareness of the dangers to distracted pedestrians in a busy inner city. To deliver the message, RAA volunteers created an entertaining video with dance and a rap-style message to appeal to their primary audience. The campaign, shown on local TV stations, was very successful, resulting in a downturn in incidents of more than 20%.
Great Days of CPR For many years, RAA partnered with the Richmond Technical Center (part of the city of Richmond public schools) to deliver CPR training to the masses for one week a year. This program grew into a regional program called Great Days of CPR and is being administered under the Central Virginia CPR Council, initiated and led by the RAA. Thousands of citizens have been trained using the American Heart Association Hands Only CPR Kit. RAA has now declared that “Every day is a great day for CPR training,” with partnerships formed and grants obtained to offer CPR training at every opportunity. A further strand of the program has crafted a relationship with Richmond public schools to provide CPR training for students, staff and bus drivers.
“EPIC” in scope
As RAA’s Rob Lawrence explains, theirs is a high-performance EMS system and is adept at the collection, collation and analysis of information. This use of information also informs a function that is not only a key tenet of EMS but also of public health and trauma systems: that prevention is better than cure. They use the acronym EPIC to explain their approach:
“Every possible metric was employed to advance the safety cause. The presence of information highlighting key issues, in all cases was the driving force to identify preventive measures to reduce behavior that leads to accidents. We are also committed to use our data and influence to raise awareness to enhance safety and therefore prevent further injury.”
“Participation is encouraged. Our programs are freely available for replication by any public safety oriented organization and maximum participation by all providers is actively encouraged. All Richmond crews, for example, carry a quota of Rider Alert cards to pass to motorcyclists they may happen upon in their travels. Road shows are used to highlight all campaigns and indeed a small quantity of AHA ‘Hands Only’ CPR kits are taken to every event to create impromptu CPR classes in line with our ‘Every day is a good day’ philosophy.”
“Integration of RAA’s safety programs is conducted from the first possible opportunity in an employee’s time with the organization. RAA maintains a holistic culture of safety and indoctrinates all staff in health, safety and injury prevention. The public health agenda and safety programs also form part of our culture by ensuring that staff firstly know of their existence and secondly whether it is during actual ‘street time’ or for special event activity, they actively participate in prevention.”
“Collaboration, sponsorship and partnership have been essential ingredients to the success of RAA’s programs. Additionally the pursuit of grant funding has also considerably aided each and every program. The Rider Alert has partnered with many sponsor organizations including Bon Secours Health Systems, Geico Insurance, The American Automobile Association and many more. It has also established ‘Safety Partners’ primarily Public safety agencies both in the US and now internationally. The key US 2013 Safety Partner is the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and its associated Rider Training Program, with whom every trainee rider receives a Rider Alert Card during their initial rider training course. Internationally, Rider Alert has partnered with the Federation of International Motorcyclists (FIM) and is collaborating to create a truly global safety program.”
To view the video and for more information on RAA’s injury prevention programs, visit raaems.org.
