May is Trauma Awareness Month

Apr 29–May 31, 2016

This May, National Trauma Awareness Month celebrates its 28th anniversary with the campaign slogan, “Safe Steps for Seniors” and focuses on senior safety and falls.

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans. Falls result in more than 2.5 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 734,000 hospitalizations and more than 21,700 deaths. Falls threaten seniors’ safety and independence and generate enormous economic and personal costs. However, falling is not an inevitable result of aging. Through practical lifestyle adjustments, evidence-based falls prevention programs, and clinical-community partnerships, the number of falls among seniors can be substantially reduced.

For more information and to download resources for National Trauma Awareness Month, click here.

As a reminder, National Trauma Survivors Day is on Wednesday, May 18th! This celebration seeks to draw inspiration from and provide support to survivors of traumatic injuries and their caregivers, opening the road to their recovery from trauma. During this event, we encourage all those who support these patients to write them a note of inspiration to aid in the recovery process and to share this note via social media thereby creating one strong voice for recovery from injury.

For more information on National Trauma Survivors Day, click here.