Injury minimisation programme hits the 20,000 mark
21 May, 2012
A lot less bumps and bruises for children across Hull as the cities Injury Minimisation Programme for Schools (I.M.P.S) next week as the 20,000 child is trained in injury prevention.
The programme, which came to Hull in 2001, is an innovative school health education programme for 10 and 11 year olds that teaches them how to manage risk and provides them with first aid skills to minimise injury. The programme also equips children with first aid and resuscitation skills, helping them to respond effectively if an incident occurs.
Unintentional Injury is the leading cause of death and illness in young people. In the last 12 months, 12,748 children in the city attended A&E with an Injury, showing more than ever that training and educating children around injury prevention can only be a positive.
Dr Jeremy Osman, MBChB, MRCP Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine, Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said about the programme:
“We see thousands of children each year at Hull’s Accident and Emergency department, many with preventable injuries. Accidents remain the biggest threat to children’s lives, particularly at this age group. The I.M.P.S programme in Hull is extremely well received by both schools and pupils and gets across a valuable life lesson to children in an educational and fun way!”
“I.M.P.S has been used as a catalyst to provide a co-ordinated approach to injury prevention strategies in this area, providing health promotion to all age groups and has been at the heart of our efforts to reduce the number of children attending A&E.”
The I.M.P.S Programme is divided into three elements:
Firstly, a school learning package which includes an education resource pack to support lessons on injury prevention.
Secondly, the children get to experience a hospital visit or school visit. This either sees the children having the opportunity to have a fun interactive guided tour of the emergency department and learning the principles of emergency life support, or alternatively the I.M.P.S Trainers visit the schools taking specialist equipment with them to enable pupils to receive training within their classroom.
Lastly, when the children return to school there are a number of lessons to consolidate what they have learnt and they get to receive their certificate of attendance.
Donna Shipp , I.M.P.S Coordinator for CHCP CIC manages the local programme, she said:
“It is important to offer children easy access to the advice and information they need to keep them safe and healthy. Here in Hull we have over 70 schools enrolled on the I.M.P.S programme and train approximately 1600 children each year. The programme gives the children essential skills that they can use for the rest of their lives.”
The I.M.P.S Programme is part of a national programme, to find out more visit www.impsweb.co.uk. The website has a dedicated ‘kidszone’ section covering many of the topics facing young people today, including drugs, weight, bullying and internet safety.
