Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Austin

Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Austin
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas
Seton Family of Hospitals

Programs

• Child Injury Prevention "Community Outreach"
• Child Safety Basics: A Program for Pregnant and Parenting Teens
• Little Hands Playground at Rosewood Zaragosa Neighborhood Center, East Austin
• Preventing and Identifying Brain Injuries
• Screening for Risky Alcohol Use Among Caregivers of Pediatric Trauma Patients: A Pilot Study

Injury Free Coalition for Kids Austin, housed within the Trauma Service at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, is focused on preventing injury to children in Central Texas through three mechanisms: education, research and advocacy.

Education Injury Prevention staff at Dell Children’s Medical Center provide a variety of educational offerings. Courses training new child passenger safety technicians are offered on a periodic basis to increase the number of hospital and community-based technicians. This year, we began offering child safety seat seminars for medical residents. Injury prevention and risky alcohol screening is conducted with caregivers of injured patients.

Research The Trauma Services Department of Dell Children’s Medical Center maintains a diverse research program. The program’s focus is on the epidemiologic, clinical, and behavioral study of childhood injury, injury prevention, and trauma clinical practice. Areas of interest include injury prevention, non-accidental trauma, and clinical pathways. Current studies include evaluating an injury prevention curriculum in an urban summer camp setting, describing caregiver risky alcohol use, and assessing the living environments and social factors that influence injury prevention behaviors and beliefs of teenage parents. An active collaboration with researchers at the University of Texas, School of Social Work was established to examine risky alcohol use in adolescents and caregivers of injured pediatric patients.

Advocacy Injury Free activities also encompass advocacy efforts aimed at strengthening or creating safety legislation for residents of the State of Texas. Initiatives have included efforts to require the use of motorcycle helmets, improve the current booster seat legislation, and to secure funding and support for statewide injury-related data systems (specifically the state Trauma and Submersion Registries).

Contact Info

Paula Yuma, MPH, CHES
Program Coordinator
Office: 512-324-0189
Email: pyuma@seton.org

Dr. R. Todd Maxson MD, FACS
Principal Investigator, Trauma Medical Director
Office: 512-324-0189
Email: tmaxson@seton.org