Mickalide

							            Home Safety Literacy Project
             Angela D. Mickalide, Ph.D, CHES
Director of Education and Outreach, Home Safety Council


              National Prevention Summit
                    Washington, DC
                   October 27, 2006
Home Safety Council
  The Home Safety Council (HSC) is the only national non-
  profit organization solely dedicated to preventing home
  related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21
  million medical visits on average each year. Through
  national programs, partnerships and the support of
  volunteers, HSC educates people of all ages to be safer in
  and around their homes.
Research Foundations
                     Home Safety Research
    Conducted the largest and most comprehensive study of injuries at home –
                     the State of Home Safety in America™


Each year, preventable injuries in the home:

    Result in nearly 20,000 deaths
    Cause nearly 21 million medical visits
    Are the fifth leading cause of death overall
    Are 2.5 times more likely to cause injury than
     car crashes
    Cost our nation up to $380 billion
    Cost employers up to $38 billion

Commissioned by the Home Safety Council and conducted by the
University of North Carolina’s Injury and Prevention Research
Center
               Home Safety Research
                 State of Home Safety in America™
• Leading causes of home injury death

    Falls

    Poisoning

    Fires / Burns

    Choking

    Drowning
Community Outreach
  The Great Safety Adventure
The Great Safety Adventure® (GSA)
is in its eighth year of teaching the
importance of home safety to children
across the nation. The program has
reached nearly one million
participants!

GSA continues to
be a favorite
among elementary
schools and
Lowe’s stores.
                   GSA Highlights
                 2005                             2006
   2005 attendance: 139,169          2006 YTD attendance:
   58 classes taught in Spanish       61,325
   362 events in 32 markets          25 classes taught in Spanish
   179 elementary school visits      188 events in 16 markets
   77 Lowe’s store visits            120 elementary school visits
   104 special event days            42 Lowe’s store events
   41.5 million media impressions    26 special event days
   1,327 media placements            16.46 million media
   367 Spanish media placements       impressions
                                      1,762 media placements
                                      698 Spanish media
                                       placements
             Youth Safety Outreach
Great Safety Adventure Curriculum Kit
Includes the ―Code Red Rover‖ video along
with printed safety materials for schools
and communities where the Great Safety
Adventure was requested but unable to
visit.

Reach: 1,880 schools and/or public health
departments reaching 101,000+ children
               Youth Safety Outreach


2005 Safety Ranger Program
“Safety Rangers Say No to Dangers” and
“Code Red Rover, Grownup Come Over
and video.
Addresses the top five home injury risks for
children: falls, fires/burns, poisonings,
choking/suffocation and drowning.

Reach: 131,223 teachers (print) and
95,000 teachers and parents (video)
              Youth Safety Outreach

2006 Safety Ranger Program
Disaster Preparedness Outreach
"Get Ready with Freddie" poster guide focuses on
creating an emergency preparedness plan and
―Ready-to-Go‖ and ―Ready-to-Stay‖ kits.

Reach: 65,000 3rd and 4th grade teachers and
3,700 Expert Network members (6.7 million people)

Impact: 50% of teachers reported that their
students made changes in family readiness
                Youth Safety Outreach

2006 Safety Ranger Program
Disaster Preparedness Outreach

NEW 8-page ―Get Ready with Freddie” activity
book and video sent in August 2006 to schools which
did not receive the January 2006 poster guide.

Reach: 13,000 3rd & 4th grade teachers (1.4 million
people); Operation Freddie fund-raising underway to
deliver program to every school in the United States
in January 2007.
              Youth Safety Outreach



2006 Disaster Preparedness Program
Lowe’s Store Outreach Initiative
HSC distributed 64,000 copies of the “Get
Ready with Freddie” DVD through Lowe’s
―Build and Grow‖ clinics on Saturday,
October 7, 2006.
    Safe Steps Falls Prevention Program
   Falls are the #1 cause of home injury
    deaths, especially for adults 65+.
   Promotes home modifications,
    medication tracking and physical
    activity
   Includes an educational video, wall
    poster and falls prevention activities
   Three-year study to evaluate
    effectiveness being conducted by UNC
    through CDC grant
   Reach: 11,000 older adult activity
    centers
Home Safety Literacy Project
          What Is Literacy?

Using printed and written information
to function in society, to achieve one’s
goals, and to develop one’s
knowledge and potential.

   --National Assessment of Adult Literacy
 Why Does Health Literacy Matter?

 Studies that have investigated the issue report
 that limited literacy skills are a stronger predictor
 of an individual's health status than age, income,
 employment status, education level, and racial or
 ethnic group.

Partnership for Clear Health Communications
                       Background
   Adults with low literacy are considered at high-risk from
    fires as a result of several factors, including:
    – Their inability to read and understand current English-language
      community safety messages
    – Inability to read or comprehend product information, including
      instructions for using smoke alarms

   Most of the fire safety material in use by fire departments
    nationally are written at the
    6th-11th grade reading level
    National Assessment of Adult Literacy
                  (NAAL)
   Conducted by U.S. Department of Education,
    National Center for Educational Statistics

   Released December 2005

   Interviewed 19,714 participants ages 16 or older
    in homes and prisons across the United States
    The Three Literacy Scales
– Prose literacy: understanding continuous text arranged in
  sentences and paragraphs (e.g., news stories, brochures)

– Document literacy: comprehending noncontinuous text in
  various formats (e.g., job applications, payroll forms, bus
  schedules, maps, tables, food and drug labels)

– Quantitative literacy: identifying and performing
  computations (e.g., checkbooks, order forms, interest
  on loans)
    Literacy Levels Described in NAAL
   Below basic—ranges from being nonliterate in English to being able to do only
    the most simple and concrete tasks such as signing a form, adding the
    amounts on a bank deposit slip, or reading a short text to find out what a
    patent is allowed to drink before a medical test.

   Basic—ability to perform simple and everyday literacy activities such as using
    a TV guide to find out what programs are on at a specific time, comparing the
    ticket prices for two events, searching a pamphlet for prospective jurors to find
    out how people were selected for the jury pool.

   Intermediate—ability to perform moderately challenging literacy activities such
    as identifying a specific location on a map, consulting reference materials to
    determine which foods contain a particular vitamin, or calculating the total cost
    of ordering specific office supplies from a catalog

   Proficient—ability to perform more complex and challenging literacy
    activities such as comparing viewpoints in two editorials;
    interpreting a table about blood pressure, age, and physical
    activity; and computing and comparing the cost per ounce
    of food items
                    Key Findings
   14% of the population (30 million adults) function at the
    lowest or Below Basic level on prose tasks

   29% of the population (63 million adults) function at the
    second or Basic level on prose tasks

   55% of the population (118 million adults) have only
    Basic or Below Basic quantitative skills
     Risk Factors for Limited Literacy

   Low income
   Unemployed
   Elderly
   Did not finish high school
   Minority ethnic group
   Recent immigrant to United States who does
    not speak English
   Born in the United States but English is
    second language
               Adult Safety Outreach

2005-2006 Home Safety Literacy Project
HSC has established partnerships with ProLiteracy
Worldwide and Oklahoma State University’s Fire
Protection Publications to research and develop new
easy-to-read fire safety and disaster preparedness
information for adults enrolled in literacy programs.

Reach: 9,000 (Phase I) and 15,000 (Phase II) adult
literacy teachers and Expert Network members
    Home Safety Literacy Project Objectives

   Provide high-quality, tested fire education instruction

   Provide deliberate and effective outreach

   Pair fire and literacy experts at the community level

   Ensure little or no impact on fire service or literacy
    provider budget or staffing
                            Pilot Tests
Seven urban and rural areas of the
U.S. conducted a pilot test of the
Home Safety Literacy Project:
   San Bernardino, CA
   Washington, DC
   Palm Beach, FL
   Montgomery County, MD
   Poteau, OK
   Philadelphia, PA
   Plano, TX
     Formative Evaluation Results
   Literacy providers and fire service members from the seven pilot sites
    were trained in 2004 to implement and evaluate the project’s
    instructional approach and specialized materials

   Results from pilot test were evaluated through an independent
    formative evaluation process immediately following the conclusion of
    the pilot/field test.

   Conclusion: focus on a few key messages and develop different
    materials for various reading levels
Home Safety Literacy Project Kit
             HSLP Components
   Overview video and computer slide show
   Pictographs
   Readers – 2 levels
   Tabloid, ―News for You‖
   Posters
   Tearpads
   Pencils
   Community Leaders Guide
   Literacy Teachers Users Manual
                 Key Messages
   Installing and maintaining smoke alarms
   Creating and practicing a home fire escape plan
   Developing a communications plan for disasters
   Assembling ―Ready-to-Go‖ and ―Ready-to-Stay
    kits
                          Results
Fire Safety Teaching Aids
   Technically accurate
   Meet national literacy standards
   Highly Illustrated
   Easy to read
   Meet stringent national fire safety standards

Content includes:
 Home fire safety skills
 How to apply key fire protection measures in the
  home:
     • Installing and maintaining adequate smoke alarm
       protection
     • Emergency escape preparedness
        Summative Evaluation Sites
Fifteen urban and rural areas of the U.S. were selected to help the Home Safety
Council conduct a summative evaluation of the Home Safety Literacy Project. An
additional 15 communities served as control sites. Experimental sites included:
 Camp Verde, AZ
 Dekalb County, GA
 Wabash County, IN
 Columbus, MS
 Tunica, MS
 Hickory, NC
 Wilson, NC
 Rochester, NY
 Lima, OH
 Chambersburg, PA
 Westerly, RI
 College Station, TX
 Prince William County, VA
 Tacoma, WA
 Jamesville, WI
    Summative Evaluation Results
   Adult students who participated in the Home Safety Literacy
    Project learned more fire safety messages than adult students
    who did not participate in the project.

   A greater number and percent of adult students who participated in
    the Home Safety Literacy Project had smoke alarms installed in
    their homes than adult students who did not participate in the
    project.

    A greater number and percent of adult students who
    participated in the Home Safety Literacy Project created
    fire escape plans for their homes than adult students who
    did not participate in the project.
      Fire Department Challenges
   Overcoming student reluctance to have
    firefighters come into their homes,
   Communicating with non-English speaking
    populations,
   Developing a schedule to install smoke alarms
    in the homes of adult students within the
    timeframe of a firefighter’s work week, and
   Targeting an adult student population who
    actually needs smoke alarms installed in
    their homes.
                Adult Safety Outreach
2006-2007 Reaching Those Who Teach Project
HSC received $1 million from the DHS/FEMA for a third
year of funding. Key components:

Survey of fire safety education in partnership with Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health

New fire safety materials for preschoolers, elementary
school students, middle schoolers, and older adults
through Weekly Reader

Best practices in fire safety education conference in
Washington, DC, January 10-12, 2007
         Home Safety Month 2006
   Theme: Hands on Home          Salute to Home Safety
    Safety                         Awards Dinner
   Sub-theme: Light it up,       Media: 140+ million
    lock it up, test it            impressions
   Omnibus poll older adult      Materials: 30,000+ via e-
    safety by Harris—Safe          store, Expert Network,
    Haven report                   corporations, safety
   Web activity: 185%             groups
    increase over 2005
   Webinar: 80 participants
              The Expert Network
   HSC established the
    Expert Network to provide
    fire and life safety
    educators with reliable
    and effective home
    safety teaching tools.

   Nearly 4,000 members – 90% from local
    fire departments.
   Additional educators include nurses, public
    health educators, literacy teachers and
    community safety advocates.
              Public Policy Initiatives

   Introduce and support health and
    safety legislation – Keeping Seniors
    Safe from Falls Act of 2006 with
    requested annual funding of $35
    million
   Increase HSC’s visibility on Capitol
    Hill and acknowledge Congressional
    support for HSC’s mission –
    Leadership awards to Senators Burr
    and Specter and Representatives
    Davis and Andrews
           Public Policy Initiatives
   Partner with federal and non-
    governmental agencies – Affiliation
    with DHS’s Citizen Corps which
    reaches 72% of the US population
   Secure funding - $50,000 earmark for
    development of GSA curriculum kit
    through CDC
   Participate in targeted coalition efforts
    – Campaign for Public Health (495)
    and Falls Free Coalition (65+)
Recent and Upcoming Safety Observances

   Home Security Week (July)
   Garage Safety Week (August)
   Falls Safety Month (September)
   National Preparedness Month (September)
   Fire Safety Month (October)
   Ladder Safety Week (November)
    2006 Awards for Home Safety Council

   Two Silver Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of
    America (Home Safety Month 2005 and BRG’s year-round
    media efforts)

   Institute for Health Literacy Award for Innovative Health
    Literacy Program (Home Safety Literacy Project)

   DC Chapter of the American Marketing Association (Great
    Safety Adventure)

   CFSI/Motorola Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership
    Award (Meri-K Appy)

   Sprinkler Advocate of the Year (Meri-K Appy)
Additional Information

              Please contact:

      Angela Mickalide, Ph.D., CHES
    Director of Education and Outreach
           Home Safety Council
        1250 Eye St., NW, Ste. 1000
          Washington, DC 20005
               202-330-4907
  Angela.mickalide@homesafetycouncil.org
        www.homesafetycouncil.org