Injury & Violence Prevention INdepth
Injury & Violence Prevention INdepth
Special Edition - Safe States 2023 Annual Conference
In this episode, host Mighty Fine is live at the 2023 Annual Conference in Denver Colorado asking participants what they think the next big injury and violence prevention issue will be and how can we prepare for it now.
Welcome to the injury and violence prevention in depth podcast. My name is mighty fine, and I'm the host of the Safe States Alliance production. In this space, we'll engage in dialogue with IVP professionals on a variety of issues. To help inform our listeners you are on the latest trends and hot topics in injury and violence prevention. Today is an extra special episode because we're broadcasting live from the 2023 Safe States annual conference in Denver, Colorado. I'll be stopping attendees and asking them what is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foresee? And how can we prepare for it now? So sit back, listen in and hear what some of the movers and shakers in IVP have to say.
Unknown:Hi, I'm Sadie McKay. I'm a general pediatrician with UT Health, Houston.
Mighty Fine:Well, thank you for joining us live and the 2023 Safe States annual conference. And the question that's on my mind, and probably a lot of others, as well as what's the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foresee? And how can we prepare for it?
Unknown:So one of the things that I have been encountering, and I foresee, especially when we are addressing, you know, injury and violence prevention, is how to address and combat misinformation, and really try to bridge that political divide. My area of research and expertise is firearm injury prevention, and working in the state, you know, coming from Texas that can sometimes prevent presented challenges, but also presented opportunities as well. And in reaching out and talking with folks, you'll see a lot of misinformation that just percolating through a variety of different channels, you know, through social media through traditional media resources, and how can we overcome this through the general population and, and really get quality, you know, respected evidence based, you know, the information out there, so that people can really know those trusted sources. But on top of that, you know, how can we take that evidence, and really bridge those political divides, because at the end of the day, when we start talking about safety, especially toward decision makers, it's really so eye opening to understand that everyone's on the same page when it comes to preventing injury and promoting safety. And you can remove all the little letters in front of everyone's names, and they all agree on the same thing. Nobody wants anyone to die by a firearm. And even with political action groups and lobbying groups, they all agree on the same thing. Nobody should die by a firearm, no child should ever die by a firearm. And when we can promote safety in these channels and venues, and really do that through an evidence based way. That's going to be able to really elevate our voices and really make change on a population level. And we really do need to focus on how can we come at that this information? And how can we, you know, take a an approach that's culturally sensitive, and also going to be effective to really start moving that needle. And that I think, will be a really great shift for the
Mighty Fine:future. Absolutely. And I'm sure lots of our listeners would agree and are willing to join you in that fight to ensure that we're combating disinformation as well as misinformation. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Unknown:Hi, my name is Victor subpoena. I am a PhD candidate at the University of Iowa and the Department of Epidemiology and with the Injury Prevention Research Center.
Mighty Fine:Awesome. Thank you for joining us. So the question of the hour is, what is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foreseeing the future? And how can we prepare for it?
Unknown:I think there's two different ways that we can think about this, we can think about an actual the actual problem with injury and violence prevention, and the way that the injury violence prevention community is actually going to approach it. So starting with one of the largest top or one of the most daunting topics, which is climate change, I foresee that climate change is going to be contributing a lot to injury and violence. There's a lot of different injuries of violence and violent acts that we have to think about. Sure. When it comes to injury, violence prevention from the community, I think that our next step is focused less on individual risk factors and focus in focusing less on like the individual and focusing more on some of the social aspects. And so really considering like the social determinants of health, I'm taking more of an eco social approach.
Mighty Fine:Okay. Thank you very well. I appreciate your time again. Thank you.
Unknown:Hi, everyone. My name is Jasmine Willow Ford. I am the injury Violence Prevention Program Coordinator at the Maryland Department of Health and we We are under the core state and injury prevention program with the CDC and a partner with the Safe States Alliance.
Mighty Fine:Okay, represent for the Mid Atlantic, I'm in DC, so you know where they were. So Jasmine, the question of the hour is, what is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foresee in the future? And how can we prepare for
Unknown:the biggest injury violence prevention issue that has come up in several sessions are gun violence, specifically with the youth and minority and underserved areas, I first see this in the future because of how prevalent and influential social media is. And also its affiliation with music. I think a lot of young people as the age old story they emulate the people that they look up to, and now that they have access to their idols are the people that they look up to, especially musical artists, and professional performing artists, they can see their lives on a day to day. And unfortunately, the pro about that is they have a deeper connection with those people. But the con is that they're also looking at some of the more negative aspects ie the violence portion and trying to emulate that as well. And it is showing up in more of the urban areas and the underserved populations. And the populations that also feel like they don't feel as understood by either their elders or other organizations that say that, therefore them. So I think we can prepare for it by creating more cultural, culturally appropriate, targeted campaigns and messaging, but also connecting with some of those people that young individuals look up to, not all artists, even though they speak on gun violence or violence in their music, they don't want to stay in those places. And I think that there is a disconnect when it comes to the messaging, music and social media as a place for expression. And sometimes, there may be a disconnect with what is being expressed, versus what is being received or how messages should be received. So we use as a tool moving forward, especially as social media platforms are evolving, changing.
Mighty Fine:Awesome, thank you. And I certainly can appreciate that, in helping us and IVP to really think more intentionally about how media broadly influences violence in the perpetration or victimization so perfectly. Thanks again.
Unknown:Thank you for having me, Emily Saxon, and I am the Program Officer at the CDC Foundation.
Mighty Fine:Awesome. And thanks again for joining us today, Emily. So the question is, that's on my mind. But I think on the minds of other folks here at the conference as well, what is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue we foresee in the future? And how can we prepare for it?
Unknown:Yeah, great question. And a loaded question as I was preparing out, like, how am I going to answer this. And as I was thinking about it, it's not necessarily an issue of the future. But I think what a lot of folks are seeing now is, we're just shifting into this space of tackling structural and built environment and racial inequities that are really the the fuel for a lot of the challenges we see in injury and violence prevention. And I think, having that mindset now, and kind of adapting our programs, and adapting our research and evaluation and knowledge to address those issues, will really be like the start of a true upstream prevention model for substance abuse or domestic violence or suicide prevention. So I think it's probably always been the forefront of this field, but now is where we really have the terminology and the support and social context to address these issues.
Mighty Fine:So what I'm hearing from you is addressing them but thinking about it with intention and actually figuring out how do we operationalize it, and the work that we're doing. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much for your time.
Unknown:Yes. Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle and I work as an over ice Fellow at the CDC. I work on the evaluation team within the division of injury prevention.
Mighty Fine:Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. You And the question is, are you ready? What is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foresee in the future? And how can you prepare for it now?
Unknown:I think the biggest issue is gun violence that stems from mental health issues. So, gun violence that can stem from either someone who has a mental issue, and it's hard to meet one person, or that can be multiple people like school shootings, or things like that. So I think that currently in the US, the healthcare system is focused on treatment rather than prevention. So in the future, we used to focus on early intervention to prevent mental health issues from escalating into acts of violence. In additionally, focusing on holistic practices that address the root cause of mental health issues, would allow us to stop those mental health issues from resulting in any gun violence. And I think one way to do that would be to work with health practitioners to allow everyone to become on the same page, because as of right now, there are certain people and organizations that understand the root causes and understand they kind of look more holistically at where mental health issues come from. But that doesn't always translate into western medicine and people who deal with mental health issues after they've already transpired. So I think getting to the root cause and then working within different practitioners would really help to work on that issue.
Mighty Fine:Thank you. So what I'm hearing you say is, for us, and IVP, is to really do a deep dive into the intersection of mental health firearms and getting a good grasp on what's happening with that intersection. Yes, absolutely. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you.
Unknown:I am Sarabeth Abbott from Houston, Texas. And I am the injury prevention and outreach education coordinator for children's Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Mighty Fine:Awesome. Great to have you with us today. Sarah Beth, in Texas, really representing this conference? You know,
Unknown:yes, we have a great delegation here to Texas, although
Mighty Fine:I love it, I love it. So the question of the hour is, what is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foresee in the future? And how can we prepare for it now? So I'm going
Unknown:to take a different spin on I think one of the largest issues, and I don't see a complete resolution is funding for injury prevention. Yeah, the dollar. And I think us as injury prevention practitioners, in researchers, academia, we all need to kind of, you know, get together and you know, have the right streams of funding. And, you know, continually have that steady voice in the community to find private funders, federal funders, governmental funds, municipalities, etc. So we can actually pull together and have a larger impact than what we do in our keyword titles.
Mighty Fine:I like that. And because when you think about, again, the burden that injuries environments place on the public health really doesn't seem like the dollars matching that right. There's a little bit of incongruence there. So I like that idea of really focusing on funding and thinking about how do we diversify that portfolio so we can adequately address these issues. Great. Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank
Unknown:you for having me. Of course. My name is Jennifer Lena, and I'm from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. And I work in the sexual assault prevention and response field. So I'm still new to IVP. very new.
Mighty Fine:Great, well, we're glad to have you. And there's a lot of Air Force representation this year to meeting. So it's been a very interesting one is in the blending of sort of the different disciplines and where we sort of sit in this grand scheme of public health, and seeing where there's so much synergy that I don't know if I initially thought about previously. So with that being said, my question to you is, what's the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foresee in the future? And how can we prepare for it now? Um,
Unknown:well, like I said, I still knew finally putting my degree to use, but what I can say, at least for right now, and I hope that he gets better, and at least in the sexual assault realm, within the military, the focus on men and even an even in IBP world, men as as the victims and then also another issue within the military in the soccer field, the LGBTQ community. That is I'm working on my doctorate and that's what I want my my concentration to be on for my dissertation. And I foresee that as not even foresee I see that as it's an issue, but it's just not talked about for sure. Absolutely. And especially in the good ol boys system of the military.
Mighty Fine:So it's really about highlighting absolutely the of the breadth of what we see happening in sexual violence prevention and ensuring the voices that are sometimes needed are not heard as off, correct.
Unknown:Correct. And so yeah, that's an issue now, we haven't been thinking about it, we're in the middle of our annual training. That is, I believe it's congressionally mandated. So we have to do it every year. Um, and this is the first time that there's one slide, one lonely slide for men and the LGBTQ community. So the rest of it's all females.
Mighty Fine:Okay. Yeah. So so you'll, you'll be helping to lead that charge?
Unknown:I hope so. Because, you know, it's not fair. It's not right. And I think that that needs to, it needs to change because men can certainly be right, be hurt. Yes, absolutely. And they need those people to champion their voices. Absolutely. We need to
Mighty Fine:broaden the narrative. So folks understand that and address things like stigma that comes along with it. Yes.
Unknown:Yes. Whether that's societal, familial, personal, absolutely, or whatever the case may be. Yeah, yeah. And however I do, um, once a month, we do a training with what's called the F tack course ft. AC, which is first term airman. Of course, that's when you come out of basic and come out of your your tech school, which is like your, your job, school, if you will, and you come to your first base, you're usually an airman basic, a one C, maybe Senior Airman. And it just gives you a whole brief rundown of the base and everything that's available, some more information about the Air Force, but sapper comes in. And I have hope because these young men, most of my classes are men. They have have I said, um, I think they're more aware. Okay, now of things, okay. To ask for help. So, so that shifting a little bit? Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. Um, yeah. So I just I tell them, you know, Hey, you don't even have to come to my office to make record if you just want to talk. Yeah,
Mighty Fine:I'm here for you. Exactly. I love that. That's fantastic. Yeah. And I know you have more of the conference to get back to hold you and have a conversation.
Unknown:I absolutely could. Yeah, this is my passion. Yeah, we'll
Mighty Fine:have to invite you back to the podcast. So we can.
Unknown:Thank you for your time. Appreciate it, as well.
Mighty Fine:Thank you for stopping by as live recording of IBP in depth here at the Safe States angle conference. So tell us your name and your affiliation.
Unknown:Thank you, Michael. My name is Teresa Reinhardt. And with Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I'm the Chief of integrated provincial for a Department of Defense Air Force.
Mighty Fine:Great to have you with us in the question of the hour is, what is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foresee in the future? And how can we prepare for it now.
Unknown:So most immediate on my time horizon is hiring a workforce. The Air Force has a big crush on violence prevention, and seeing violence and suicide. Under the umbrella of risk factors, protective factors, I need to hire three people right now in the office of one pushing these programs to us, though, right now our job to do suicide prevention for the entire base, okay. And then also, a new program came to our office or opposite one that's typically was done by Equal Opportunity office, but that's to assess the climate environment. And then commanders get feedback on sexual harassment going around and discrimination or other issues of concern, so it's getting that workforce hired up,
Mighty Fine:got it. And I think that is specific to you and your world. And I think that's something that we can say like you're thinking more broadly beyond that is that we have to ensure that we have the workforce capacity, yes. To meet the needs of the
Unknown:that kind of touched on those issues. It's definitely preventing all sorts of interpersonal violence, child abuse, child neglect, sexual harassment, sexual assault, bullying things issue, of course, what they're calling into self directed violence.
Mighty Fine:Yeah, absolutely. It just makes me think about to where we in public health can be doing more, I think there folks doing great work out there to sort of promote the value of public health and help early career professionals, high school students, college students, our service members to really understand and appreciate IVP or injury, violence prevention as an opportunity for a profession so that we can ensure that we have that transition in the workforce. We
Unknown:definitely need to come up with these professionals. And it's all about our society stronger.
Mighty Fine:Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you for stopping by much. Appreciate it. All right. Thanks for stopping by this live broadcasting You have IVP in depth here at the 2023 Safe States Conference. And just tell us your name and your affiliation. So our listeners know who works, who I'm talking to.
Unknown:Hi, everyone. And thank you again, 90 for having me. My name is Hannah Dunlop. And I am a second year MPH student at the Colorado School of Public Health. And I'm also the Safe States communications intern.
Mighty Fine:Awesome. I'm so happy to be talking with you today. So I asked you the same question. What is it? It'd be great to actually hear your perspective as a MPH student? So what is the biggest injury or violence prevention issue you foreseeing the future? And how can we prepare for it?
Unknown:So obviously, we all know that there's crazy rates of gun violence and suicide in our population. And so we know that that's just one of the small, not a small issue, but one of the many issues. And I'm just thinking about the workforce that has to tackle this, they're not going to go away. And so as an MPH student, and within the program, I've never learned about IBP. It's not an AI master's program or anything like that. I've just found safe states. So making sure that the public health workforce is trained in this specific field. So we have the resources and have the knowledge to be able to tackle these issues.
Mighty Fine:I love that because you made me think about when we look at injuries and violence broadly, you recognize the enormous burden that it places on the puppet self. So it would make sense for us to ensure that the workforce is trained, and they're equipped with the tactics, skills, etc, to ensure that they're meeting the issue with the intention that it requires. So thanks, and I appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks for having me, of course. Thanks for listening to IVP in depth, be sure to subscribe and listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or Google podcasts. You can also follow safe states on Twitter or LinkedIn at Safe States. And don't forget to check out our website, www dot safe states.org. For more injury, violence prevention tools and resources that I'm sure you'll find extremely useful. I'd like to take this opportunity to also thank all of the sponsors for the conference as well. With that, this is your host Mike find signing off until next time, stay safe and injury free