ThinkFirst for Kids

Collaboration with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on prevention activities

CIRCL Supported Injury Prevention Programs

Faculty Collaborative Activities for Training in the Community

Faculty Collaborative Activities for Community Outreach

ThinkFirst for Kids (TFFK)

ThinkFirst for Kids (TFFK) is a brain and spinal cord injury prevention program directed towards children in grades K-3.  CIRCL has been involved in conducting and distributing the TFFK program since 1998. For the 2007-2008 school year, the TFFK program was implemented into 48 schools and presented at 55 assembly sessions, reaching 7,404 children in grades K-3.  As part of the assembly program, children are fitted for bicycle helmets and given the helmets as an incentive related to the program. In the last 5 years, CIRCL has supported the distribution of 5,727 helmets in this program.

Collaborative Injury Prevention Programs with the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Throughout its existence, CIRCL and its faculty and staff have been involved with multiple community-based injury prevention programs conducted in coordination and collaboration with the trauma center at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) and collaboration with Allegheny General Hospital.

CIRCL Supported Injury Prevention Programs

In 2008, the following youth and adolescent injury prevention programs also were supported by CIRCL:

• RED – Reality Education for Drivers: This program focuses on teen drivers who are cited for moving violations (anything except DUI).  After sentencing by a local magistrate, the teens are directed to the CHP where they are provided a one-day curriculum to learn about the realities of injury from a motor vehicle crash (MVC).
• RED – Before the Crash: This program focuses on teens and their parents before or shortly after getting their license. In this program, both the teens and parents are provided instruction to learn about the risks associated with teen drivers.
• Hard Heads – This is a helmet program for kids involved in wheeled activities.  It includes rewards for kids who are found to be wearing helmets in the community, and coupons for helmets and fittings for kids who are not wearing helmets. 
• Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) Injury Prevention Website – The CHP Injury Prevention Website provides information to the community on the injury risks associated with various childhood school and recreational activities.
• Road Radio – A middle school assembly for drug and alcohol prevention. 
• Pennsylvania (PA) TECHS – PA Team Educators for Child Safety – CIRCL has certified car seat technicians on staff who participate in PA TECH’s child passenger car seat checks. 
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) National Child Passenger Safety Training Course - CIRCL provided support to underwrite the provision of this course in child passenger safety in June 2008.
• Lose the Training Wheels – This program is geared towards youth with disabilities, and seeks to enhance their independence by teaching these individuals how to ride bicycles. 
• Injury Prevention Programs Coordinated through SafeKids - Other community-based, injury prevention activities have been supported by CIRCL through our involvement with the SafeKids Organization.

Faculty Collaborative Activities for Training in the Community

Faculty from CIRCL have also been involved with several state and national initiatives designed to enhance training opportunities to wider audiences.  These include the following:

Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research-State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association National Training Initiative(SAVIR-STIPDA NTI) - This effort has worked towards the development of a well-trained workforce in injury prevention and control.  As part of this plan, Dr. Thomas Songer led the NTI committee which developed the national core competencies for the injury prevention field. Click here to read.

Transportation Research Board (TRB), Subcommittee on Highway Safety Workforce Development - Dr. Thomas Songer has also collaborated with colleagues over the last four years to advance the training of road safety professionals and develop core competencies for highway safety professionals. The competencies were developed for use in expanding the skills of professionals involved in highway safety programs at the local, state, and national levels and are published in the TRB Research Results Digest 302. Click here to read.

Pennsylvania Trauma Center Prevention Coordinator Training Project - CIRCL and Dr. Harold Weiss conducted a survey of the current injury prevention activities at Level I Trauma Centers in Pennsylvania to assess the training needs of trauma center professionals and the barriers to conducting injury prevention activities.  The responding coordinators reported that the majority of their prevention activities were in the injury areas of falls, bicycle safety, fire and burn prevention, motor vehicle safety, and alcohol and drug prevention.  Most prevention programs were funded by the trauma centers themselves, and limited external support was identified as a barrier to the provision of larger programs.

Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee, Study of Supply and Demand for Highway Safety Professionals in the Public Sector - Dr. Thomas Songer served on this committee, which conducted an in-depth evaluation of the current workforce in highway safety and developed a report with recommendations for improving the expected shortfall in workers in the coming years.  Click here to read.

Faculty Collaborative Activities for Community Outreach

CIRCL faculty have also collaborated with several local and state organizations in their program activities.  This involvement includes the following:

Allegheny County Death Review Committee - The Allegheny County Death Review Program was established in 1997 with the goal of reducing child deaths. As part of this program a team of professionals perform confidential case reviews of all child deaths in Allegheny County, the county in which CIRCL is located.

EPIC-SCAN (Educating Physicians In their Communities, Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect) - This is a Pennsylvania-based program funded by the PA Department of Public Welfare and the PA Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics. It was started in 1998 with the goal of educating mandated child abuse reporters about child abuse and neglect. There are four different programs designed to meet the needs of physicians, EMS providers, school nurses and hospital staff.

Preceptorship on Child Abuse - This program began in 2003 as an extension of EPIC-SCAN and is designed to provide more intensive training related to child abuse to physicians in PA. Participants complete 60 hours of training in child abuse.

The Attorney General’s Medical/Legal Advisory Board on Child Abuse - This advisory group of 50 members was created in 1988 as a resource for Pennsylvania prosecutors and investigators of child maltreatment cases. 

Mayor’s Youth Crime Prevention Council - The Youth Crime Prevention Council (YCPC) is a collaborative effort convened by the Mayor of Pittsburgh. The YCPC was originally established in 1994 and was a national model to mobilize public and private agencies, grass roots organizations and individuals in response to dramatic increases in juvenile violent crime.

Pennsylvania Injury Community Planning Group (ICPG) - The Pennsylvania Department of Health ICPG was formed in 2005 to provide the state with a community-based strategic injury control plan.  Dr. Thomas Songer participates in this effort as the co-chair for the group and CIRCL has provided support to the ICPG by working with the state to identify the training needs of the local injury prevention practitioners.