Starting with “Why:” Setting a course for the future of injury prevention

Lorrie Lynn, MA, CPSTI

Every three years, for over 30 years, the Injury Prevention Coalition created the Childhood Unintentional Injuries Report to the Community. The report provides data trends on unintentional injury deaths, hospitalizations and emergency department discharges for children 0 to 14 years of age for the across the county. Throughout the years leading injuries tables informed other county report cards and organizational programs throughout the county. The Report stood as a resource for organizations throughout the county and a guide to injury prevention practices.

The 2025 report is distinctly different than the previous reports. Influenced by three separate events, the Report changed from a resource document to a call to action. The first shift was in an injury prevention mindset. The Coalition members, charged with keeping children safe and healthy met and began action planning, building specific and achievable programs and collaborations that would begin to move the needle on intractable injuries for kids, drowning, roadway crashes, and safe sleep for infants. The second event occurred when the state changed its injury data reporting process. Although easily accessible, the data for injuries is not available if the number of incidents met a threshold of 11 or more individuals. This change impacted the data and trend analysis historically included in the report. This change created challenges in comparing data year-over-year and resulted in an incomplete unintentional fatalities table. Despite the changes, the table on unintentional injury death still aligned data to show the three leading causes, drowning/submersion, suffocation and motor vehicles. The final influence in the context of a changing world was seeking the input of a community voice, the Injury Prevention Advisory Committee, to confirm and guide our work and this report. We invited a group of diverse leaders and parents to share their insights about child injuries that will lead to designing programs building on the communities’ strengths.

When Simon Sinek speaks of starting with “Why” it is because there is familiarity and comfort in describing the “How” and the “What”. This report is in the wake of a pandemic that changed our world. Starting with “Why” was critical to understanding the new reality of childhood injury. The result of this new perspective on the Community Report shows in the language, the structure, and the promise to report back to the community in 3 years with the progress and challenges. These are commitments through words, data and action plans calling for equity for all children.

Bringing community voice to the design and discussions about unintentional injury puts children in the context of family and culture. The Action Plans, built with the community voice, are measurable and accountable. Sharing the latest data trends and proven practices we can make the lives of children safer and healthier

• By combining data, action plans and community voice you expand your perspective on solutions
• Taking the time to develop Action Plans with measurable outcomes holds a coalition of individuals accountable.
• Data challenges are inevitable and seeking out other sources of data, like community voice can build the richness of lived experience.