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Facts

Costs
Insurance costs and out-of-pocket spending for all medical services are quantified by the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a nationally-representative survey of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. MEPS reported that injuries in 2000 contributed to 10% of U.S. medical expenditures; when MEPS percentages were applied to the annual National Health Accounts data (which trace expenditures within the health care system), injury-related medical expenditures were estimated to cost Americans $117 billion each year.


Member Update 05/11
Member Update ~May, 2011


Dear SAVIR Members,


Consistent with the theme of springtime, when we are re-energized by seeing the first robin or the first new buds on flowering trees, this has been the season of many "firsts" for SAVIR! Here are a few highlights.

For the first time, our 2011 national meeting was held in partnership with Safe States Alliance and we had 300 participants – a record number. Progress through Partnerships was hosted at the home of Iowa University’s Injury Prevention Research Center. Former SAVIR President and director of that center, Cori Peek-Asa and deputy director John Lundell were wonderful hosts, and as the saying goes, "a good time was had by all".


The SAVIR Science Committee played an instrumental role in the abstract and awards processes necessary to put the conference agenda together. There are links to the abstracts, presentations and awards on our website – be sure to check them out
http://www.savirweb.org/assets/361_firstpagewithstudyinginju.pdf


The conference itself was full of other "firsts" as well – student initiatives, including an endowed scholarship fund; membership outreach; and strategic planning for the organization.

Commitment to Students
An emphasis on engaging students, vital to the future of our field, was evident throughout the conference. We hosted a successful breakfast to network with students and introduce them to the organization. We also gave the Brooks Webb Student Award for the best student abstract accepted for presentation and peer reviewed by the SAVIR Membership Committee.
The 2011 Award Winner was Jennifer Kuhn, Western Michigan University.

Additionally, SAVIR is proud to announce the Brooks Webb Student Award Scholarship established in 2011 in memory of two individuals who valued higher education and truly loved to learn. The scholarship sponsored the 2011 student award, a cash prize of $250 and conference registration for the 2013 conference.

We want to give an enormous thank you to member Dawn Comstock, who issued the following challenge. Please consider donating to this worthy initiative!

MEMBER SCHOLARSHIP CHALLENGE
 "As a first generation college graduate who held multiple jobs to fund my undergraduate and master’s degrees, I appreciate the value of educational opportunities and understand the economic challenges facing students. This is why I believe the Brooks Webb Student Award is so important. I'm willing to back my beliefs with cash and I challenge my friends in SAVIR to do the same. I will donate $500 to the Brooks Webb Student Award each year that at least $500 is donated by the general SAVIR membership. Help me provide opportunities to the future leaders of our field" - Dawn Comstock, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH.


Membership Outreach
We held our first all-member business meeting during the conference, and were delighted that 46 members attended. This was an important opportunity for the SAVIR leadership to make a report on the status of the organization. We provided an update on our financial status as well as our strategic planning process. We also obtained input from the membership on their vision for the organization and how it can best serve members’ needs. Some important "take home" messages from this meeting included the need to enhance our web presence and use of social media, support for students, and advocacy for the profession.


Strategic Planning
The Board of Directors met for a half day session to continue its strategic planning process. We reconfirmed our mission and vision statements and reviewed our current strategic plan for needed updating. After much discussion, we have drafted 3 goal statements, 12 sub-goals, and 62 potential objectives. The Board is in the process of finalizing the goals/sub-goals and prioritizing the objectives. My hope is that by the end of my term in November, we will be able to present to the membership a plan for SAVIR for the next several years that is both visionary and achievable.


Advocacy and Policy Survey
Thank you to everyone who completed the advocacy survey conducted by our Advocacy and Policy Committee. Your responses will help us to better understand our advocacy capacity and needs. Results of the study will be forthcoming.

Congratulations to Catherine C. McDonald, winner of the SAVIR Advocacy Survey drawing for an injury prevention book. Catherine is currently a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (T32NR007100; PI: Sommers) and trains under Dr. Marilyn Sommers and Dr. Flaura Winston (at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) in the area of injury prevention and teen driving behaviors, web-based intervention development to target teen driving behaviors, and outcome measures such as eye tracking devices and driving simulators. Catherine chose to receive Injury and Violence Prevention: Behavioral Science Theories, Methods, and Applications (Gielen, Sleet & DiClemente, 2006) (Thanks, Catherine! Hope you like - ACG:).
The book was ordered through the SAVIR Amazon Store, which will also benefit our organization. Please remember the SAVIR link to Amazon when you need to purchase something.


Since the Conference
We have also been active on the advocacy front. Thanks to the Advocacy and Policy Committee, we are about to produce two new tools that should be helpful to our members’ advocacy efforts. The first is a new feature on our website – "Research Matters" – which will also be available as a fact sheet. This document highlights examples of injury research with high impact that were culled from the literature by the Science Committee. The second is a fact sheet on NCIPC’s Injury Control Research Center program, focused on its impact on the field and why it needs to be fully supported.

SAVIR is also represented on a national "Injury and Violence Prevention Stakeholders" group that is facilitated by the Safe States Alliance. Through regular telephone conferences, the group of more than twenty organizations keeps everyone updated on congressional briefings and other policy and advocacy activities relevant to the injury control field, including discussions of the FY 12 Congressional budget. Please see their website for more information:
http://safestates.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=254
.
We are currently partnering with Safe States Alliance to respond to an NCIPC FOA on evaluation of the states’ Core Violence and Injury Prevention Program. This would be a five year cooperative agreement that would involve working closely with NCIPC and the state injury programs to create program planning and evaluation tools and conduct a rigorous assessment of the extent to which the state programs are achieving their objectives.


As always, we welcome your comments, suggestions and active participation in SAVIR. An engaged membership is the secret of success and sustainability!


Best Regards,
Andrea Gielen