Opening Session
Marlen Schultz--Chair, National Association of Governors' Highway Safety
Representatives Committee on Health and Injury Control
I'm pleased that you could all be here. Your attendance represents the
culmination of a year's worth of planning and preparation. I'd like to thank
some of the people who made this event possible. First, I can't say enough
about the governors' highway safety representatives. Without their financial
commitment, many of us would not be here today. The governors' representatives
dug deep into their pockets to pull together significant resources. Thank you
for supporting the program and for having enough faith in the process to be
here and participate. Next, I want to thank the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for
providing grant money for this workshop. I'd also like to recognize the State
and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association for scheduling their
annual meeting in conjunction with this event. My deepest appreciation also
goes to Barbara Harsha, executive director of the National Association of
Governors' Highway Safety Representatives.
Now, let's talk about expectations. This workshop is designed to lead you
through a thought-provoking series of discoveries on perspectives, attitudes,
and skills. At the end of the day, each of you will have developed concrete
objectives and strategies on how to accomplish those objectives. We expect you
to actually implement these strategies. We will be following up to see how
well you are doing. I know that each governor's representative and highway
safety coordinator will also be in touch to keep you energized and provide
technical assistance. Ultimately, we believe that this process will help all
of us gain a new sense of involvement, redefine our roles, and expand our
partnerships.
Ellen Schmidt--President, State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors
Association
I also want to thank Barbara Harsha and all the folks that Marlen
mentioned. Working together has been a real pleasure.
I would like to talk a bit about collaboration. We, at this meeting, are the
personification of that process. And we will be continuing this process as we
go through the rest of today and into the future, bringing public health and
traffic safety professionals together to work on common goals. The first thing
that we should look at is problem identification. All of us approach problem
identification from different perspectives and with different information. We
need to ask, "What are we going to do about this problem?" We can return to
the Haddon Matrix and look at environmental, legislative, and educational
interventions. Everybody in this room is familiar with all three methods and
their ability to help create solutions. We need to join forces to make our
solutions better, broader, and more effective. Then we need to implement those
solutions. We need to coordinate our message. There are never too many
advocates for highway safety. The partnerships that we develop and expand
today can only lead to greater successes and will serve as a model for other
agencies and for other professions.
Ricardo Martinez--Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (videotape)
There is a long history of effective state- and community-based
coalitions with support from NHTSA and CDC. In each state there are homegrown,
proven programs that have been racking up successes for years. Let's expand
our networks and our programs into larger coalitions and broader partnerships.
In the past few months, we've been working on a vision for injury control.
This vision is based on building new partnerships at the community level.
Increased awareness of healthcare and changes in healthcare financing have
created new opportunities. There are two new energetic partners: businesses,
who are increasingly responsible for health costs, and healthcare providers,
who are moving toward a community health focus. NHTSA is at your service.
From top to bottom, in Washington and in every regional office, we pledge to
keep you informed and to help you find the tools, training, and resources you
need for this vital work.
Mark Rosenberg--Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (videotape)
Let me just mention three points that I think can make a difference.
The first is a focus on primary prevention. People still have not bought into
it. We need to get the message out that more effort should be spent on
preventing injuries. The second is evaluation. We have to carefully measure
not only outcomes, but process. We need to share information about what works
and what does not work. The third point is that we must work together and
integrate what we do. This means bringing together injury prevention programs
in traffic safety, public health, and emergency medical services. It also
means bringing together the public and private sectors and all those separate
safety programs that may have been started within one community. All of us are
being asked to do more with fewer resources. By working together, we can
effectively deal with this increased demand. Working together is not always
easy. But it is critical. If there are ways that we at CDC and NHTSA can help
you, we'd like to do it. But probably more important than that, we'll look to
you for the successes.
http://www.edc.org/HHD/csn/buildbridges/partner/openingsession.html
Revised: October 28, 1996
©1997 Education Development Center, Inc.
