By: Brian C. Kuhn

Box Butte General Hospital (BBGH) Trauma Coordinator Larry Steele, RN, CEN, is always thinking of ways to promote injury prevention to the public. In the past he’s focused on having the BBGH Marketing Department promote injury prevention through the use of television and radio commercials. Recently, he spearheaded an effort to develop a Safety Section on the BBGH website (www.bbgh.org) that provides easy access to information on a variety of prevention subjects. The public can access the new section by clicking on the Community Wellness tab at the top of the home page. Each injury, safety, and prevention link has information that can be read on the screen, as well as a link to a printable PDF that individuals or organizations can use to distribute the information. The Kiwanis Club of Alliance used PDF links from the Safety section to print out bicycle and helmet safety flyers used during their recent safety and bike check event for kids 5-14 years old.

“The Safety Page came from just thinking of ways to project the mission statement at Box Butte General Hospital ‘to lead and innovate in healthcare delivery and community wellness’ from a trauma program perspective,” Larry said. “BBGH has dedicated a lot of resources to ensure our ED staff is well trained and that we have the equipment we need to care for people when they get injured. But another key component to a trauma program is injury prevention.“

The Community Wellness section is a resource for the public, with the intention to help create safer environments, recognize hazards, and prevent injury. “This safety website information and our trauma program is really a team effort at BBGH,” he said. “I have consulted our Physical Therapy Department’s manager Tim Devlin for information and recommendations. Dr. Mark Chu (Trauma Medical Director) and my ED manager Lori Fields have both been very supportive of this project. And finally, Brian Kuhn in our Marketing Department was able to take the work that I did and make it look very professional on the website.“

Larry’s vision is having the website’s injury prevention and safety section grow as the hospital grows and new community needs surface by providing information taken from professional and best practice sources. “There’s a lot of information on the Web,” Mr. Steele concluded. “But that flood of information can contain unreliable and incorrect information, so I wanted a resource people could go to that they know has been reliably researched. Some of the resources that I use to support the information on the Community Wellness section include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Highway Safety Administration, National Council on Aging, and National Safety Council,” he concluded. “It’s all broken down into seasonal safety tips, with spring and summer injury prevention now available. We’ll be updating the page with autumn and winter injury prevention information as those seasons approach.” The public can obtain safety and prevention information on a wide range of topics, ranging from playground safety to rattlesnake bite prevention.

Box Butte General Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer.