Trauma Outreach and Prevention

Community Health and Safety

Members of the Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Team at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health are actively involved in outreach efforts to educate the community about a wide range of safety and injury prevention issues, including:

• Concussion and brain injury prevention
• Falls prevention in the geriatric population
• Bicycle safety
• Water safety
• Alcohol abuse prevention
• Child injury prevention

Amish and Rural Safety

We partner with the Amish and Anabaptist communities in a variety of initiatives to improve safety in rural areas of central Pennsylvania. Our active program includes:

• Annual Farm and Family Safety Days at rural fire departments and community centers offering education on farm and household hazards
• Our Amish Safety Committee meets regularly with Anabaptist leaders to identify risk factors for trauma and implement safety initiatives
• Free reflective vests to increase the visibility of people riding scooters and horse-drawn vehicles
• Free hay hole covers help prevent falls from the second story of barns. Hay-hole falls are a common farm injury, resulting in head and other trauma.

Stop the Bleed Campaign

We offer Stop the Bleed training at no cost for local businesses and community groups. Part of a nationwide program, Stop the Bleed teaches bystanders life-saving actions to take in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. Bleeding injuries are the second leading cause of trauma-related deaths.