A new acronym – and organization — was born last week in Ohio – MIPA. It stands for Midwest Injury Prevention Alliance and is the brain child of Dr. Gary Smith at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. With CDC funding, Dr. Smith brought together an amazing array of injury prevention specialists and advocates to dicuss working together across state lines to reduce the number of injuries in the Midwestern states.
Participants came from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as representatives from national agencies such as CPSC and CDC and some representation from other regions who already have alliances formed. Representatives came from large state health departments, small non profits (like KID!), hospitals and universities. They represented those working on broad swatches of the injury prevention spectrum as well as those working on specific issues such as product safety, suicide, domestic violence or agricultural injury issues.
The first day was spent introducing the idea to the group, hearing about success stories in the use of data, advocacy, social media and state actions. On day two, the group got down to the nitty-gritty of forming a working alliance.
KID came away feeling energized about the possibility of both working together on injury prevention with such as amazing group as well as being able to use these already established networks to further our mission of reducing injuries from unsafe children’s products.
If you are in the Midwest and want to participate, contact MIPA here.
