Unintentional injuries are a major health issue in Alberta and lead to many preventable emergency room visits and hospital stays. Providing simple, clear safety advice at the point of decision-making or purchase helps people make safer choices and lowers injury rates across our communities.

Community Need

Unintentional injuries—including traffic collisions, recreational head trauma, and medication misadventures—remain a leading cause of preventable emergency room visits and hospitalizations across Alberta. By providing targeted, low-barrier educational materials through local hubs, including pharmacies, sport shops, and primary care clinics, we empower individuals to take immediate preventive action while driving measurable reductions in preventable injuries and emergency room visits.

Project Description

We propose to create and distribute three clear, accessible public health guidance topics across 30,000+ high-impact rack cards (standard 4" x 9") to 125+ communities in Northern Alberta. The rack cards will be culturally safe, accessible materials and available in English, French, Chinese, Tagalog, Arabic, and Ukrainian.

The rack cards will address key community safety priorities:

1. Helmet Sizing & Proper Fitting (applying the 2-V-1 rule for bicycles, e-bikes, and recreational sports).

2. Child Car Seat Guidance (how to select, buy, and properly adjust car seats for child safety)

3. Prescription Safety & Medication Management (safe storage, administration, and disposal of prescription medications)

The funding will support design and creation, production, community distribution, and digital and ambassador integration. By strategically placing multi-slot display units in high-traffic community locations, we are placing safety information at key decision-making points. There will also be print-ready digital downloads and reorder mechanisms through The Injury Prevention Centre to help sustain long-term community outreach, strengthening public health engagement across urban and rural Alberta.

Operating for over 25 years, the Injury Prevention Centre is Alberta’s leading authority on preventing life-altering injuries. We champion a holistic approach to intentional and unintentional injury prevention, translating research into actionable tools and policy advocacy. We empower individuals and communities to create safer environments and in Alberta where people can live, learn, work, and play free from life-altering injuries.

Primary Goal: Reduce preventable injuries and emergency room visits across urban and rural communities in Alberta by delivering targeted, point-of-decision safety education through accessible rack card displays.

Key Outcomes:

• Widespread Distribution: Deploy 30,000+ rack cards across 125+ community hubs, including pharmacies, sport shops, and rec centers.

• Behavioral Adoption: Increase public adherence to critical safety practices such as the 2-V-1 helmet rule, proper child car seat installation, and safe medication storage and disposal.

• Sustainable Engagement: Establish self-sustaining refill loops and open digital toolkits for local champions and partner venues to maintain long-term outreach.

Who will benefit?

This initiative will benefit a wide range of individuals, families, and community partners across urban and rural Alberta while helping to reduce preventable injuries and lower healthcare system costs. Even small injuries can cause absences and affect other family members. Parents, caregivers, and children will receive clear, actionable instructions on proper helmet fitting using the 2-V-1 rule, plus guidance on selecting and installing child car seats to maximize safety during transport. Additionally, families, seniors, and patients managing prescription medications will receive essential guidance on safe storage, locked containment, and proper pharmaceutical disposal to prevent unintentional pediatric poisonings and dosage errors. Beyond individual community members, local retail and service partners—including pharmacies, sport shops, and primary care clinics—will benefit from counter displays that serve as point-of-sale educational tools. Finally, schools, health promotion facilitators, and community health connectors will benefit from open-access digital toolkits and refill options to sustain long-term public health engagement throughout Alberta.