National Injury Prevention Day is observed Nov. 18, and was first recognized nationally in November 2019. This year will be the third year that the state of South Carolina has brought awareness to injury prevention and all that the state does throughout the year.

You can visit DHEC’s Injury and Violence Prevention webpage to explore the different programs that DHEC currently promotes.  

Division of Injury and Substance Abuse Prevention 
​​​​​​​The Division of Injury and Substance Abuse Prevention (DISAP) within the Bureau of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention was awarded the Core State Injury Prevention Program (SIPP) grant from the CDC in September 2021. The State Injury Prevention Program focuses on three main injury prevention topics: Adverse Childhood Experiences, Transportation Safety, and Traumatic Brain Injury. The funding supports a statewide effort to enhance injury surveillance, strengthen community partnerships and provide evaluation tools and assessments.   

The Statewide Injury Prevention Program is led by Karilyn Tremblay, program manager, who works closely with South Carolina’s injury surveillance team and numerous health, transportation and public safety organizations.  

“Here at DHEC, we make injury prevention a priority,” she said. “All of our injury prevention systems are integrated from life at home, at work and at play. On a daily basis, we all can find ways to promote injury prevention by wearing seatbelts, removing hazards from the home and protecting our children from violence.”   

South Carolina’s top two leading causes of injury death include motor vehicle crashes and unintentional poisonings for people aged 1 to 44 years old (DHEC Vital Statistics, 2022). DHEC brings awareness to motor vehicle safety through funding from the Department of Public Safety. The agency’s Occupant Protection Program educates Child Passenger Safety Technicians and caregivers about the proper installation of car seats and ways to prevent injury for both the driver and passenger.  

DHEC is also part of the South Carolina Opioid Emergency Response Team and receives the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) grant. OD2A works through prevention and surveillance to combat the ever-changing effects of the opioid epidemic here in South Carolina. 

Safe Kids 
The Injury Free Coalition for Kids is a national organization that encourages participating cities and organizations to “Shine a Green Light” and bring awareness to the importance of preventing both intentional and unintentional injuries. DISAP is partnering with Safe Kids South Carolina and the local injury prevention coalitions around the state to wear green on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.  

DISAP is the state lead for Safe Kids in South Carolina, organizing the efforts of the state’s 12 local coalitions. The mission of the Safe Kids Coalitions is to keep kids safe and implement evidence-based programs that will help families, caregivers and educators prevent childhood injuries. Sign up today for the Safe Kids newsletter or to share your injury prevention story.