Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Chicago
In 1995, with seed funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
Children's Memorial Hospital established the Chicago chapter of Injury Free
Coalition for Kids, a national coalition of hospital-community partnerships
dedicated to injury prevention. IFCKC's programs are grounded in understanding
the epidemiology — the prevalence and distribution — of injury in Chicago.
"There is a science behind injuries," explains Sheehan. "Epidemiology describes
the pattern. Once we understand that pattern, we can intervene with those at
risk for specific injuries."
The coalition partners with community organizations to identify, develop and
evaluate injury prevention strategies. "We use local data to identify where the
problems are, then develop an intervention in partnership with the community to
help solve it," says Sheehan. It's a successful model that has been in place for
several years with community organizations such as Chicago Youth Programs, which
is active in Cabrini Green, Washington Park and Uptown. In these communities,
coalition projects have helped protect children against home, playground and
violent injury. A key component of IFCKC's work is measuring the impact of their
work with children and adolescents. One program that uses peer mentoring to
combat violence showed promising results. Kids who participated demonstrated a
decrease in attitudes that supported violence compared with the control group
whose attitudes and behaviors towards violence increased.
Because of its history of success, Children's Memorial was recently
designated as a mentoring site to help other Chicago hospitals develop similar
community partnerships. "But we can't be satisfied with our results," says
Sheehan. "We need sustained community involvement to make a difference."
[Note: The article above appeared in the Fall 2002 issue of Carousel, the
magazine of Children's Memorial Hospital.]
The Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Chicago at Children's Memorial Hospital
now provides free, onsite playground safety checks to schools, park districts,
preschools, and childcare centers. Learn more here .
Link directly to the Coalition's site here .