Safe Saskatchewan has been working with organizations across the province to initiate a Seniors' Falls Injury Prevention Strategy (SFIPS). Here is the latest news with this project...

Seniors' Falls UPDATE, August 2007

On a blustery November day in 2006, representatives from numerous organizations arrived in Regina, Saskatchewan to talk about seniors’ falls. Safe Saskatchewan was pleased to coordinate that day and has continued to move forward on the development of a Seniors’ Falls Injury Prevention Strategy (SFIPS) for Saskatchewan.

So what’s happened since that November gathering?

This update is intended to provide background to everyone who attended and for those who couldn’t attend because of the weather. It’s been an exciting nine months.

One of the key outcomes of the workshop in November was the establishment of a Steering Committee. A number of people committed to volunteer their time to continue developing the SFIPS. At the first meeting, Safe Saskatchewan introduced its role, provided a mandate document and a first draft of the SFIPS for discussion and development.

The committee decided on a number of critical action items:

• achieve absolute representation from all health regions;
• use a rate reduction goal;
• get support from Saskatchewan Health; and
• develop a framework document, using other jurisdictions as examples.

After the first Steering Committee workship, meetings were set up with the Deputy Minister of Saskatchewan Health. A copy of the draft SFIPS was shared and valuable comments received. In addition, a committment was given to forward the Strategy for further reveiw and potential resources this fall.

June saw the Steering Committee gathering again in a working session in Regina. During the session, the group further refined the SFIPS objective:

- by December 31st, 2013, reduce the rate of fall-related injuries that result in hospitalizations by 10% in the 65 plus age group.

The group is using an established model and taking its lead from other jurisdictions that have already created their own seniors' falls injury prevention strategies. During the rest of the day, using a "population health promotion" approach, the team developed three goals to be achieved in four key settings. In addition, seven action areas and four guiding principles were developed. A quick overview of this is included.

Goals

• Promote optimal health and maximize independence
• Prevent, reduce and manage fall-related risk factors and injuries
• Build healthy public policy and practice

Key Settings

• Community
• Home
• Residential
• Acute Care

Action Areas

• Education
• Awareness
• Policy development and review
• Personal capacity building
• Program design and implementation
• Creating safe environments
• Developing a framework of support

Guiding Principles

• Evidence-based best practice
• Focus on client relationships
• Sustainability
• Collaboration and partnerships

Moving forward, the steering committee will be meeting again in September to reveiw all drafts of the strategies and objectives needed to flesh out the SFIPS.

And, with a final draft in hand, Safe Saskatchewan will be delivering the document to the Health Department for consideration.

These are exciting times for injury prevention. The collaboration and dedication demonstrated by all the volunteers to date has been outstanding.

Additional updates will be forwarded as key developments occur.

For more information, please contact:     Gord Moker,

                                                             Program Coordinator,

                                                             Safe Saskatchewan

                                                             gmoker@sasksafety.org   

                                                            (306) 757.3197

Safe Saskatchewan has presented its business case presentation across the province and is scheduled to present well into the New Year.

The Business Case compares the strain of off-the-job injury rates verses on-the-job injury rates. The results are astounding!

Click here for the full details of the presentation.

Safe Communities Humboldt and Area Have Become Endorsing Members

Safe Communities Humboldt and Area have joined Safe Saskatchewan as an endorsing member. Safe Communities runs programs that are in line with Safe Saskatchewan's mandates including fall prevention and farm safety. Safe Saskatchewan would like to welcome their newest endorsing member and look forward to working together to enhance the culture of safety in our province. To learn more about Safe Communities Humboldt and Area, check out their website at: www.safehumboltarea.ca

Gord appeared on Access Communications "Seniors' Voice". Click on the following links to hear what he had to say.

Introduction to Safe Saskatchewan's mandate (00:04:45)

On-the-job verses Farming and Off-the-job injury rates (00:00:57)

How does Saskatchewan compare to Alberta and Manitoba farmers? (00:00:37)

Why is awareness important? (00:01:25)

Injuries are preventable (00:01:25)

What do injuries cost our province? (00:01:20)

What are the statistics saying? (00:00:55)

Regina, April 27, 2007: Safe Saskatchewan has just completed a number of research projects in an effort to
understand why Saskatchewan’s injury rate is one of Canada’s highest. Qualitative and quantitative research was undertaken from November 2006 to March 2007 to gather feedback from over 2,000 Saskatchewan residents across the province.

Some key results of the survey include:

• 13.3% of participants correctly identified injury as the leading cause of death to Canadians under the age of 45;

• 10% correctly guessed the true economic burden to Saskatchewan as $1 billion dollars;

• 30.4% of respondents believe most injuries are predictable and preventable;

• respondents under 25 or over 65 were less likely to believe injuries are predictable and preventable;

• 50.6% incorrectly believe the rate of workplace injuries is greater than the rate of injuries off-the-job; and

• 69.1% incorrectly believe the death rate from workplace injuries is greater than the death rate due to off-the-job injuries.

“Safe Saskatchewan wants to raise awareness of the injury epidemic in this province,” says Gord Moker, Project
Coordinator for Safe Saskatchewan. “In order to do this we needed to understand people’s perception when it
comes to health, safety and injury prevention. Looking forward, we are using this information to develop more
awareness and understanding of the impact of injuries.”

Saskatchewan’s hospitalization rate due to unintentional injury is twice the national average and the death rate is 40% higher. The total number of injuries that occur in Saskatchewan makes up 7% of the injuries in Canada yet our province only makes up 3% of the population. As a province we spend an estimated $1 billion dollars a year on the direct and indirect costs of unintentional injury.

"We definitely have some work to do to raise the level awareness, not only for Safe Saskatchewan but for injury prevention in general,” comments Peter Federko, CEO of the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board, founding member of Safe Saskatchewan, and current chair of the Steering Committee.“We have a vision of a Safe Saskatchewan for all of our residents. That is going to be our focus for Safe Saskatchewan.”

Safe Saskatchewan is led by a consortium of public and private sector founders. The organization aims to raise awareness of the unintentional injury epidemic in Saskatchewan, coordinate provincial injury prevention initiatives and support all organizations and programs undertaking injury prevention in our communities.

Survey Background

A telephone survey was conducted in March 2007 by Norsask Consumer Interviewing with 800 residents aged 18 or older and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5% at a 95% confidence interval. Gryphon Reputation Management gathered input from over 1,200 participants through a web-based survey and the opinions of another 50 participants from five focus groups throughout the province.

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For more information contact:

Gord Moker, Program Coordinator                                                     Sarah Fedorchuk
Safe Saskatchewan                                                                          Gryphon Reputation Management
T: 306-757-3197                                                                             T: 306-586-2494
Email: gmoker@sasksafety.org                                                          Email: sfedorchuk@gryphonrm.com
www.safesask.com