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Community Injury Prevention

Albuquerque Area - Injury Prevention Specialist

CAPT Carrie Oyster
Acting Sanitarian/Injury Prevention Specialist
Albuquerque Area Indian Health Service
4101 Indian School Road NE, Suite 225
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110-3988
Office: 505-256-6815
Fax: 505-256-6852
Email: Carolyn.Oyster@ihs.gov

Throughout Indian Country, injuries are a leading killer of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Throughout the Albuquerque Area, the leading causes of severe injuries (injury deaths and disabilities) include motor vehicle crashes, falls, assaults and suicides. These deaths and disabilities often destroy the fabric of both families and entire communities. And besides the human toll, the cost of treating severe injuries affects the ability to provide treatments for many less-urgent medical conditions for other community members.

In response to this, Albuquerque Area IHS community injury prevention activities include:

Information Sharing/Program Advocacy

Collecting, analyzing and distributing injury data and related information Working with tribal agencies and other sources to improve injury data recording Creating educational and promotional materials to share with tribes Promoting injury prevention to tribal leaders, officials, and community members

Collaboration

Supporting development and maintenance of tribal and intertribal injury prevention coalitions Supporting regional and state injury prevention coalitions for benefit of tribes Promoting collaboration between tribes on injury prevention projects

Program Support

Serving as project officers for funded injury prevention projects and infrastructure grants Mentoring tribal and IHS staff in advanced training programs (e.g., IP Fellowship)

Training

Organizing and providing injury prevention training courses to enhance local injury prevention skills Provide other injury prevention awareness/skills training to tribal officials and IHS staff

Resources

Allocating Environmental Health and Engineering injury prevention funding for tribal intervention projects Identifying and promoting external funding sources for tribal intervention projects

IHS Injury Prevention