View our slideshow of places "Shining a Green Light" during the first National Injury Prevention Day.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this day a success.



Twitter Chat | Social Media | Other Media | Shining a Green Light | Government Proclamations | Programs & Events | Thank You

Introduction

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, children are dealing with another crisis. Injuries are the leading cause of death and disability to U.S. children from 1 to 18 years old. Every day, 20 children die from preventable injuries, resulting in more deaths than all other diseases combined.

On Wednesday, November 18, 2020, the Injury Free Coalition for Kids will launch the inaugural "National Injury Prevention Day" to raise awareness about the significance of injury and advocate for prevention. Doctors, nurses, and community outreach personnel at close to 40 Level I Trauma Centers around the country will join forces that day, each in their own way addressing the injuries most prevalent in their communities.

About Injury Free

The Injury Free Coalition for Kids® is among the country's most effective injury prevention programs. It is comprised of over 40 sites located in Level I Trauma Centers of 30 states across the country in all the country's Federal Trauma Regions. These sites, including yours, have hospital-based, community-oriented injury prevention programs whose efforts are anchored in research, education, and advocacy. Each site has independent, physician-led programs driven by the Coalition's mission: preventing injury to children. While research determines where the injuries take place and which ones are most prevalent and severe, most of the injuries addressed occur in urban environments. Coalition members work to empower the diverse populations who live there, and they address the injuries most prevalent in their areas.

Resources



How are Injury Free sites and others participating?

National Injury Prevention Day Twitter Chat

The Injury Free Coalition for Kids will host a live one hour twitter chat on November 18th at 1:00 pm EST with Injury Free sites and their institutions to help inform people about the urgent need to prevent injuries and how everyone can play a role. To join the conversation use the hashtag #BeInjuryFree.

November 18th at 1 pm EST — #BeInjuryFree

Topics to be discussed include injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes, poisoning, safe storage of firearms, the need for safe sleep, home safety, holiday safety and other injuries often seen in emergency departments across the country.

Shining a Green Light

On Wednesday, November 18th, 2020, as the sun went down across the nation, city landmarks were shining green. The Johns Hopkins dome in Baltimore, the Hemsley Building on Park Avenue in New York, The Prudential Building in Boston, and bridges in Arkansas and Houston are among the many places that were lighting up in green to raise awareness. Hospitals in at least 15 cities were shining a green light.

Click the name of a city to view photos from that city.

  • Austin — The Tower of Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas
  • Baltimore — Baltimore City Hall, Johns Hopkins Dome
  • Baton Rouge — Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital
  • Birmingham — Children's Hospital of Alabama
  • Boston — Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Prudential Center Tower, Spire at Atlantic Wharf and the Exchange at 100 Federal Street
  • Cincinnati — CCHMC Resource Center
  • Columbus — Nationwide Childrens Hospital Green Sticks
  • Danville, PA — Geisinger Medical Center
  • Houston (UTHealth/Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital) — Sarofim Tower & Medical Plaza (11/17-11/19); City Hall; Hazard, Woodhead, Dunlavy, Mandell, Graustark & Montrose Bridges along Corridor I-69 (11/18-11/19)
  • Houston (Texas Children's Hospital) — Legacy Tower (Medical Center)
  • Indianapolis — Riley Hospital for Children
  • Iowa City — University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital, Park Avenue Bridge, the Downtown Pedestrian Mall Stage and the New Public Works Building.
  • Itasca, IL — American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Kansas City — Children's Mercy Adele Hall Campus, Children's Mercy Hospital Kansas, Charlie's House, Kansas City Missouri City Hall, Children's Mercy Park Stadium - home of Sporting Kansas City
  • Little Rock — Two Rivers bridge, Big Dam Bridge, Broadway Bridge, Main Street Bridge, Junction Bridge
  • Minneapolis
  • New York — Helmsley Building on Park Ave.
  • Oklahoma City — Oklahoma City Children's Hospital at OU, Skydance Bridge
  • Philadelphia — Ben Franklin Bridge, Lincoln Financial Field home of the Philadelphia Eagles NFL, Subaru Park Home of the MLS team The Philadelphia Union, Ronald McDonald House North Philadelphia, Boathouse Row, PECO Crown Lights
  • Phoenix — Children's Hospital
  • Pittsburgh — The Gulf Tower, Koppers building, Rugby Realty, The Offices of the City and County of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County Courthouse, UPMC Children's, UPMC Presbyterian - lighting up the cupola on top of the building, UPMC Williamsport, Janet Weis Children's Hospital Geisinger, Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, UPMC Hamot (Erie)
  • Providence — Hasbro Children's Hospital and Good Night Lights; Rhode Island State house (11/16-11/20)
  • Rochester — Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong University of Rochester Medical Center; the City of Rochester Lights on Roc program will shine a green light on 5 downtown Rochester buildings
  • Seattle — Harborview Medical Center
  • St. Louis — St. Louis Children's Hospital, Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, the Ferris Wheel, the Magic House, the St. Louis Science Center planetarium, Christian Hospital EMS, St. Clare Hospital and St. Joseph's hospitals.
  • Worcester — UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center Sherman Building, Burns Bridge
Social Media

More than half of Injury Free's 40 partnering hospitals are promoting National Injury Prevention Day using social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Sites are boosting content online, producing and distributing injury prevention materials, including brochures, newsletters, flyers, coloring books and stickers.

A number of sites are encouraging employees to wear green, and promoting the day with hospital signage indoors and out.

Other Media

Click on the provided links to view stories.

Austin: A news segment aired on the November 17th to promote child safety/injury and National Injury Prevention day. Dell Children's Hospital and Texas Gun Sense and did social media posts leading up to the day, an op-ed has been submitted to the Austin Statesman. An interview was also conducted on KXAN news (link to article).

Baltimore: On the 18th, Public Health on Call featured Injury Free and Injury Prevention Day, hosted by Dr. Josh Sharfstein, Associate Dean for Practice, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Listen to the pocast.

Birmingham:

Columbus: The Center for Injury Research and Policy staff wore green when their photo was captured and shared on National Injury Prevention Day. The event was posted using the @CIRPatNCH Twitter handle, the @nationwidekids Twitter handle, and the @PreventChildInj Twitter handle. Information about the event was also included in the Prevent Child Injury newsletter.

Houston: Texas Children's Hospital published an Op Ed in the Houston Chronicle and on the hospital blog.

Iowa City: National Injury Prevention Day was covered in the Injury Control Research Center's monthly injury blog. The Center also produced a zoom background that was shared across the country.

Injury Free Iowa took over the hospital Instagram on Nov. 18th with a "day in the life" theme showing injury prevention colleagues doing work in safe sleep, child passenger safety, ATV safety and teen driving safety. In addition, the site provided a large amount of the staff in the hospital with a pin they wore that said "I'm wearing green because...." The hope was that those efforts would encourage conversation about pediatric injury prevention.

Injury Free Iowa was also joined by other University of Iowa Departments and entities within their Institutions and they sent out social media posts about Injury Prevention Day. The Department of Transportation in Iowa took part as well by posting Injury Prevention messages on interstate signs.

Joplin, Missouri: The Joplin Globe covered local injury prevention efforts at Freeman Health System.

Kansas City:

  • The Pitch, a monthly print publication that is Kansas City's source for progressive, independent, street-level coverage of news, arts, music, and culture covered National Injury Prevention Day.
  • Major League Soccer Team Sporting Kansas City not only turned the stadium green, it also dedicated part of its newsletter to National Injury Prevention Day.

Minneapolis: In Hennepin County a weekly radio station show called Health Matters, a popular 1-hour show with call-in questions answered by experts in the field, featured Injury Prevention on November 18th. In addition to contributing to twitter chats, the PR Department also created a new injury prevention website.

Philadelphia: Injury Free Philadelphia, at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, has produced a website and a flier for Injury Prevention Day. Visit InjuryFreePhiladelphia.org and download the flier.

Seattle: Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center created a toolkit for Injury Prevention Day. The toolkit focuses on suicide prevention and safe storage of firearms. The center has partnered with Forefront, University of Washington's suicide prevention organization. Go to https://hiprc.org/nipd/.

St. Louis:

  • KMOV Television News ran a story about hospitals teaming up to raise awareness about injury the need for Injury Prevention and Introduced National Injury Prevention Day. The story covers Firearm Injuries, Home Safety and a Gun Lock Giveaway being done at St. Louis Children's.
  • The FOX2 News Now Morning Program had Dr. Lindsay Clukies on as a guest where she was able to talk about the need for National Injury Day and share information about the most prevalent injuries in St. Louis and ways they can those injuries can be prevented.
  • St. Louis Hospitals and the BSmart organization teamed up to spread the news about National Injury Prevention Day in the Webster-Kirkwood Times newspaper. It is an electronic and print paper with a circulation is over 38,000 for section of the paper.
  • St. Louis Children's Hospital also made sure to acknowledge the need for Injury Prevention by highlighting topics and Dr. Clukies on their website.
  • LOV, the Life Outside of Violence program promoted the day with email blasts to their community partners, including the St. Louis Area Violence Prevention Committee.
  • The Kirkwood Community Police Department was excited to participate and promote National Injury Prevention Day through Kirkwood Community Social Media sites, including the Kirkwood Public Library. Officer Baldridge, the Kirkwood Community Officer suggested posting throughout the week of November 18 to maximize exposure.
Government Proclamations
Programs and Events

On November 18th a number of Injury Prevention Centers held events and programs to raise awareness about the work they do. San Diego addressed child drownings, Kansas City tackled fire safety, Nashville looked at home safety, and Peoria, Illinois addressed child car passenger safety.

Click the links below to learn more.

Thank You

Thank you to all Hospitals, Cities, Educational Institutions, Government Agencies, Organizations and Associations for helping to Shine a Green Light to raise awareness about the need to address and prevent Injuries. Together we are working to make a difference.

Atlanta, GA

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Emory University School of Medicine
Grady Hospital

Austin, TX

Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas

Baltimore, MD

Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The City of Baltimore

Birmingham, AL

Children's Hospital of Alabama
Children's Health System

Boston, MA

Boston Children's Hospital
Prudential

Brooklyn, NY

Maimonides Medical Center
The NYC Department of Transportation, Safety Education & Outreach
New York State Department of State, Division of Consumer Protection
Jacobi Medical Center, Injury Prevention
FDNY, Fire Safety Education Unit
NYC Poison Control Center
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, Environmental Exposure Assessment & Education Program
NYP Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, Injury Prevention

Chicago, IL

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Hartford, CT

Connecticut Children's Medical Center

Houston, TX (Memorial Hermann)

Memorial Hermann Hospital System
Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
McGovern Medical School
UTPhysicians
City of Houston
Texas Medical Center

Houston, TX (Texas Children's)

Texas Children's Hospital
City of Houston
The State of Texas, I-69 Corridor

Indianapolis, IN

Riley Hospital for Children
Indiana University Health

Iowa City, IA

University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital
The City of Iowa City
The City of Des Moines

Kansas City, MO

Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics
Charlie's House
Kansas City Fire Department
Kansas City Police Department
Sporting Kansas City
Nurture KC, Healthy Start
Safety & Health Council of Western MO & KS
Bike Walk KC
The City of Kansas City
Union Station

Jacksonville, FL

University of Florida Health

Little Rock, AR

Arkansas Children's Hospital
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
The State of Arkansas

Long Island, NY

Cohen Children's Medical Center

Milwaukee, WI

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Minneapolis, MN

Hennepin Healthcare
Nicollet Mall
Hennepin County

Nashville, TN

Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt

National Program Office

American Academy of Pediatrics
American Trauma Society
Trauma Center Association of America
CDC Injury Control Research Centers:
Columbia University: Columbia Center for Injury Science and Prevention
Emory University: Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory
Johns Hopkins University: Center for Injury Research and Policy
Nationwide Children's Hospital: Center for Injury Research and Policy
University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center
University of Washington & Harborview Medical Center: Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center

New York, NY

Hemsley Building on Park Ave
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

Palo Alto, CA

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford

Peoria, IL

Children's Hospital of Illinois

Philadelphia, PA

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children
City of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Union, MLS

Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix Children's Hospital

Pittsburgh, PA

UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
The Building Owners and Managers Association of Pittsburgh
Rugby Realty
The Office of the mayor of Pittsburgh, William Peduto
The County Executive for Allegheny County, Rich Fitzgerald

Portland, OR

Doernbecher Children's Hospital at OHSU
Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emmanuel

Providence, RI

Hasbro Children's Hospital/Injury Prevention Center
Good Night Lights, Steve Brosnihan

Rochester, NY

Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong
University of Rochester Medical Center

San Diego, CA

Rady Children's Hospital and Health Center

St. Louis, MO

St. Louis Children's Hospital
Northwestern Hospital
Christian Hospital
Washington University School of Medicine
Mercy South
Cardinal Glennon/SSM
St. Clare Hospital
Northwest Healthcare
The City of St. Louis
The St. Louis Blues
The Magic House
St. Louis Area Police Departments
BeSMART
The Planetarium at the Science Center
Safety Stop
Granite City ARCH
Moms Demand Action

Seattle, WA

Harborview Medical Center and Seattle Children's Hospital

 

Contact

E. Lenita Johnson, Communications Director
Injury Free Coalition for Kids
estelljohnson@sbcglobal.net
816-651-7777