Residents of rural communities are up to two times more likely to visit an Emergency Department for treatment of an injury compared to other Albertans. Falls, road traffic collisions, and off-highway vehicle incidents are often the reason for these visits.
However, these injuries are preventable by changing people’s behaviours and attitudes through community action. Community involvement, commitment, and action are some of the most powerful tools in tackling the injury problem.
The Rural Alberta Action Plan (RAAP) is currently in the pilot stage. Once completed the results will provide evidence about how to address preventable injuries in rural Alberta communities. Access and proximity to medical facilities make injuries more detrimental outside of metropolitan centers.
Residents of rural communities are up to 2x more likely to visit an Emergency Department for injuries.
The RAAP is for leaders, policy makers, local organizations, frontline workers in rural communities that see a need for targeted injury prevention initiatives. It’s the people who live, learn, work, and play in a community that best understand their community’s specific problems, needs, resources, and abilities.
We work directly with community leaders and residents of rural communities to identify injury issues of concern. We then develop, implement, and evaluate prevention strategies tailored to their particular situation. As is often the case, prevention strategies developed in concert with one community can often be adapted and used in other similar communities to address their own concerns. This is the value of community engagement. We achieve more when we work together.
Use these hashtags on social media to discuss Rural Alberta Action Plan.
#RuralAlberta #AGSafety
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