NFPA Journal - January/February 2014 - (Page 28)
>>outreach
advocacy, legislative, and PUBlic edUcation neWs
LISA BRAXTON
The Heart of Prevention
I
n December, I had a chance to
talk to Jeffrey McNeel, deputy
chief/fire marshal for Beaumont
Fire-Rescue in Beaumont, Texas.
He was in Boston for NFPA's twoday Remembering When™: A Fire
and Fall Prevention Program for Older
Adults training conference, looking
for direction on how to address a
troubling trend in his community.
The research that he'd conducted on fall prevention among
older citizens showed that his
department, which takes an allEmergency personnel were
responding to incidents
but were not adequately
addressing behaviors that
often led to them.
hazards approach in responding
to its 118,000 citizens, answers
10 times as many calls for public assists for falls and slips than
for structure fires. Further, his
analysis over a two-year period
indicated that a call for a public
assist for a fall with injuries was
preceded by a call, if not multiple
calls, for a public assist in which a
resident wasn't injured but needed
to be lifted or repositioned after
a fall. In one instance, the department responded to a location
26 times for non-emergency lift
assists before receiving a call for a
fall injury. What McNeel realized
is that emergency personnel were
responding to incidents but were
not adequately addressing behaviors that often led to them.
"My heart is in prevention. This
was an unacceptable hole in our
28
2014
NFPA JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
prevention activities that had to be
addressed," McNeel
told me at the conference. "We have
been traditionally
focused on getting
the smoke alarms in
and teaching children how to react
to fire, but there's
so much more that
affects a family's
safety. People can
fall and have a lifechanging, life-ending injury. We
have to become proactive."
McNeel, along with more than 50
other participants from across the
U.S. and Canada, came to Boston to
learn how to reach older adults with
the 16 key fire and fall prevention
behaviors of the recently updated
Remembering When program. The
training included group presentations and home visits, and McNeel
was particularly interested in a
presentation by public health educator Andrea Vastis called "Health
Behavior: From Theory to Practice."
Vastis explained the complex nature
of ingrained behaviors, reinforcing
her point by having participants pair
off to discuss their own behavior
changes and what motivated them.
Vastis outlined strategies for working with older adults to help them
recognize and change potentially
dangerous behaviors, encouraging
participants to practice patience and
persistence throughout the process.
Vastis' presentation was reinforced
for McNeel and his peers in a session
called "Conducting the Home Visit,"
by Jessica Blackford-Cleeton, of the
Illinois State Fire Marshal's office,
and Patricia Mieszala, NFPA trainer
and lead public education advisor.
They used props and clever pantomiming to dramatize the patience
and sensitivity required to help an
older adult embrace change.
The team concept was emphasized throughout the training.
Participants were encouraged to
form coalitions, to seek the support of their mayors, fire chiefs,
civic and business leaders, and local
media, and to keep in contact with
each other throughout the yearlong commitment to the program.
"Sometimes in education we
wonder, 'Did we get the point
across? Is there going to be
behavioral change?' " McNeel
told me-a familiar refrain from
educators everywhere. "We have a
wonderful partner with our home
health agency. With the information we've been given here, we can
truly educate others."
For more on Remembering When,
visit nfpa.org/rememberingwhen.
LISA BRAXTON is public education
project manager at nFPa.
Photograph: Shutterstock
Addressing the behavior behind the problem through Remembering When
http://www.nfpa.org/rememberingwhen
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2014
NFPA Journal - January/February 2014
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
In Compliance
First Responder
Research
Wildfire Watch
Outreach
Firewatch
#Are You Prepared?
Life and Death at Memorial
Barrier Smarts
Perfect Storm
Conference & Expo Preview
Section Spotlight
Product Showcase
Looking Back
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