Session 1: Thursday January 21, 2010 Presentation
Presenter: Dr. Rose-Alma McDonald and Councilor Wendall Nicholas
This co-presentation by Dr. McDonald and Councilor Nicholas will address the challenges and predisposition of First Nations communities to injury within a prevention context. They will describe targeted strategies to address injury prevention in First Nation communities and provide straight up advice on how to best work with First Nations to prevent injuries.
Dr. Rose-Alma J. McDonald is the owner of the consulting firm Katenies Research and Management Services. She has over 30 years experience as a professional consultant, technical writer, researcher, facilitator and social reformer. Through her work, Dr. McDonald has represented over 633 First Nations in Canada on national policy issues related to health, education, languages, social development, disability, injury prevention, child care and social security reform. At the same time she has represented over 500 tribes in the United States on national policy issues related to education, labor market training and skills acquisition for disadvantaged populations along with economic, community and jurisdictional development. In addition to Canada and the USA, Dr. McDonald has been responsible for presentations and research related to Indigenous issues in Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Malaysia through the course of her career. She has also been responsible for facilitating collaborative efforts with global partners that include the World Health Organization and United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues.
Councilor Wendall Nicholas is an elected representative of the Maliseet Nation at Tobique located in the Wabanaki Territory in Atlantic Canada. Over the past 15 years, Councilor Nicholas, has led and facilitated local, regional and national priority First Nation rights initiatives concerning health and social justice issues. These efforts included negotiating and drafting measures and protocols between: First Nations and Health Canada on health benefits and tuberculosis; Federal and Provincial Governments on children’s' benefits; Veterans Affairs Canada on compensation; The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on public safety; and the Canadian Red Cross on injury prevention and emergency preparedness. His international work efforts included contributions to the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and work between Indigenous, Canadian and U.S. Governments to protect the border-crossing rights of Indigenous people in North AmericaHe also chairs a national committee between First Nations, Canada and Catholic Entities that evaluates and approves contributions by Catholic Entities to healing and reconciliation on the legacy of Indian Residential Schools.
Session 2: Thursday March 18, 2010 Presentation
Title: An Ounce of Prevention - Are we delivering an ounce of prevention in Canada? Injury Prevention Success Stories
Presenter: Dr. Ian Pike
This presentation was delivered as the keynote address for the November 2009 Injury Prevention Stakeholder Workshop in Toronto. Dr. Pike will focus on the scope of the injury problem in Canada and injury prevention success stories and challenges. He will answer the question: are we delivering a full ounce of prevention in Canada? If you are in the position of making the case for injury, you will not want to miss this presentation.
Dr. Ian Pike is the Director of BCIRPU, a position he has occupied since April, 2004, as well as an Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, UBC. Before that he served as the Regional Director for the Canadian Red Cross Society in the BC lower mainland, the Director of Employee Health and Safety Services at the Healthcare Benefit Trust, and at the University of Regina as the Director of the Dr. Paul Schwann Centre, an applied health and research centre. Dr. Pike is a dynamic leader with a strong record of achievement combining skills in diverse areas of organizational development; group/staff leadership; resource development and fundraising; program development, management and evaluation; building partnerships and community relations; and applied research and resources to maximize productivity. His current research is focused on the development of injury indicators for Canadian children and youth, the promotion of health and injury prevention in the workplace, and the development of The Community’s social marketing campaign to reduce preventable injuries in BC.
Session 3: Thursday May 20, 2010 Presentation
Title: Injury Surveillance at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority- from leveraging the 2010 Winter Olympics to creating a legacy for injury prevention
Presenters: Dr. Jat Sandhu and Dr. Meena Dawar
The development of a regional injury surveillance system is a core activity of the Public Health Surveillance Unit at VCH. Alongside our robust communicable disease surveillance work under the auspices of the BC Health Act, we are seeking to develop regular summaries of injury occurrences within our region. In particular, our regional injury surveillance will be an integral part of the enhanced surveillance we will be undertaking for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. This initiative will be a legacy to VCH and provide impetus to injury prevention work across the region.
Dr. Meena Dawar is a Medical Health Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health Authority where one of her roles is to support the injury surveillance system. She received her MD from Dalhousie University, completed her Family Practice Residency training at Queen's University, and her Master's in Health Sciences and her Community Medicine Residency at UBC. As a Family Physician, Meena has worked in rural and urban clinics in Ontario and British Columbia. Meena has also worked with Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Program in BC Region where she supported the communicable disease control program and injury surveillance program for First Nations communities.
Dr Jat Sandhu, Regional Director of the Public Health Surveillance Unit at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. This recently established unit is a unique entity among BC Health Authorities that supports regional public health practice in the areas of health assessment, disease surveillance, epidemiological investigations and knowledge transfer. Dr Sandhu has recently returned to Canada having had training and work experience that has encompassed British Military Hospital Pathology; WHO regional training centre for Medical Education in Sydney, Australia; the Australian Red Cross; the Provincial Laboratory for Public Health in Alberta; faculty at the University of Bristol in England, and work with various public health agencies of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. Dr Sandhu contributes to public health capacity development through his roles as a Clinical Assistant Professor with the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia; Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University; and as placement supervisor for field epidemiologists with the Canadian Field Epidemiology Program of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Session 4: Thursday July 15, 2010 Presentation
Title: Preventable.ca - Impact on British Columbians
Presenter: Dr. Khairun Jivani and Dr. Ian Pike
The Community Against Preventable Injuries launched a first of its kind, province wide social marketing campaign – preventable.ca on June 1st, 2009. The goal of the campaign was to raise awareness around preventable injuries, transform attitudes and ultimately change behaviours. This presentation will highlight the impact of campaign activities which included traditional and social media, guerrilla activities, ambient messaging and the website, on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of British Columbians. Join us to learn more about the innovative ways The Community used to reach and engage their consumers.
As the Senior Program Manager for The Community Against Preventable Injuries (The Community), Dr. Khairun Jivani manages a multi-partner, multi-year social marketing strategy aimed at reducing preventable injuries in BC. She contributes expertise in social marketing, project management, program evaluation, strategic planning, policy analyses and research. Dr. Jivani, also an international dentist, has worked extensively in public health both in Canada and internationally.
Dr. Ian Pike is the Director of BCIRPU, a position he has occupied since April, 2004, as well as an Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, UBC. Before that he served as the Regional Director for the Canadian Red Cross Society in the BC lower mainland, the Director of Employee Health and Safety Services at the Healthcare Benefit Trust, and at the University of Regina as the Director of the Dr. Paul Schwann Centre, an applied health and research centre. Dr. Pike is a dynamic leader with a strong record of achievement combining skills in diverse areas of organizational development; group/staff leadership; resource development and fundraising; program development, management and evaluation; building partnerships and community relations; and applied research and resources to maximize productivity. His current research is focused on the development of injury indicators for Canadian children and youth, the promotion of health and injury prevention in the workplace, and the development of The Community’s social marketing campaign to reduce preventable injuries in BC.
Session 5: Thursday September 16, 2010
Title: Prevention is Possible: How Head Restraints Can Prevent Whiplash Injuries
Presenter: Dr. Mark White, Dr. Douglas Romilly, and Dr. Edi Desapriya
Current head restraint research indicates that serious neck injuries can be prevented by 35% if occupants drove vehicles with well designed fully adjustable head restraints, and positioned them properly, however most people are unaware of the importance of taking preventive action. This presentation will address the broad question of: What can be done to reduce the risk of whiplash-type injuries in rear end collisions? In the face of limited regulatory requirements for automotive manufacturers to more predominantly address occupant safety, what can be done both now and in the future to reduce this significant societal problem?
Using principles underpinning participatory action research, targeted stakeholders are being invited to participate in focus groups to learn about advances in head restraint design and to seek their input in developing meaningful and persuasive key messages, toolkits and resources (print, web, media clips) relevant to their peers and customers. Initial target groups are occupational physicians, occupational health and safety coordinators, fleet managers, new drivers and community partners. This session will discuss strategy, methodology, process and outcome evaluation methods employed and preliminary findings.
Dr. Marc White is the Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for the Relief of Pain and Disability and the organizer for the World Congress on Neck Pain held in 2008. He is a Clinical Associate Professor with the Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine with the University of British Columbia. Dr. White is an award winning scholar in area of continuing health education and knowledge translation. His post-doctoral research at Harvard engaged primary care organizations, rheumatology associations, consumer health organizations and government agencies in the USA and Canada to plan and implement a roadmap to improve the continuum of care for people with rheumatoid arthritis. His research activities are primarily concerned with reducing gaps between current research and its utilization in training, policy and practice across public and private stakeholders. Dr. White is a co-author with Dr. Ediriweera Desapriya on a soon to be released textbook, Head Restraints and Whiplash: The Past, Present and Future published by Nova Publishers.
Dr. Douglas Romilly is a professional engineer and an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia performing research in the areas of design for automotive safety and vehicle crashworthiness, and rehabilitative engineering. He has been working in these areas for over 20 years, previously being a member and later the coordinator for the Transport Canada-sponsored UBC Road Safety Research Group (1988 – 1998) that performed a wide range of accident investigations to help assess the impact of new automotive technology on occupant safety during collisions. Dr. Romilly is currently the project leader of a project, sponsored by the AUTO21 Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada, which focuses on a range of aspects for both promoting and enhancing the effectiveness of the automotive seat to protect occupants from neck and back injury in rear end collisions. This research involves six active researchers and addresses: 1) aspects of proper automotive seat and head restraint positioning, 2) initiatives for increasing the proportion of “safer” vehicles in vehicle population through purchaser knowledge and selection, and 3) developing and using collision simulation modeling and experimental testing of prototype designs to enhance occupant protection during rear end collisions. It is hoped that this broad and comprehensive research will reduce neck and back injury of occupants in future vehicle collisions.
Ediriweera Desapriya, PhD. is a Research Associate for the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of British Columbia. He is a core team member of the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) funded Canadian Injury Indicators Team. He has completed several research studies in the area of road safety and he is nationally and internationally recognized within his field. He was nominated for Who’s Who in Health Care and Medicine for 2008-2009 in recognition of his contributions to injury prevention and evidence based practices within the international research community.
Session 6: Thursday November 18, 2010
Title: The State of Fall Prevention in Canada: Transforming Knowledge to Action
Presenter: Dr. Vicky Scott and Dr. Fabio Feldman
The Centre of Excellence on Mobility, Fall Prevention and Injury in Aging represents a unique approach in to fall prevention research in Canada based on collaboration between researchers, health care providers and policy makers with a shared goal of improving the health and safety of older British Columbians. This presentation provides highlights of findings from studies targeting high risk groups in the community, assisted living and residential care settings, as well as descriptive studies on fall-related mortality among Canadian seniors, and directions for future studies and collaboration.
Dr. Vicky Scott is the Senior Advisor on Fall and Injury Prevention for the province of BC with the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit and Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport. Her academic appointment is with the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Medicine as Clinical Associate Professor with the School of Population and Public Health. She is Director of the Centre of Excellence on Mobility, Fall Prevention and Injury in Aging (CEMFIA) at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, Chair of the BC Fall and Injury Prevention Coalition, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Knowledge Translation award recipient, and project lead for the Canadian Falls Prevention Curriculum.
Dr. Fabio Feldman has been the Manager, Seniors Falls and Injury Prevention for the Fraser Health Authority since September 2006. He has been involved in the development and implementation of Falls Prevention initiatives in acute care, long term care facilities, assisted living, and community. Most of the programs developed by Fabio and the FH Falls Prevention Team have been adopted by other health region across Canada. Fabio has published his work on prevention of falls and hip fractures in scientific journals such as Journal of Biomechanics, Gait & Posture, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, and others. He also presented his work in many national and international conferences. Fabio was awarded the Michael Smith Foundation's Senior Graduate Studentship from 2005 to 2007 and in 2006 he received the Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Society of Biomechanics. He received an Award of Excellence from the BC Falls Prevention Coalition in 2008.