Name of the Community:Mackay / Whitsunday
Country: Australia
Number of inhabitants: 91,000
Programme started year: Initiated in 1999 by the Tropical Public Health Unit Network, Queensland Health. Endorsed by Mackay City Council in November 1999 and Whitsunday Shire Council in February 2000.
"WHO- designation" year: Applied to the World Health Organisation 2002
Info address on www for the community: www.mackay.qld.gov.au www.whitsunday.qld.gov.au

The programme covers the following safety promotion activities:

• Child Safety
• School Safety
• Senior Safety
• Bike Safety
• Road Safety
• Alcohol Safety

For the age group

• Funding secured to employ a Project Officer to develop strategies to reduce the incidence of drownings, falls, poisonings and burns in the 0-4 age group for a 3-5 year period. Position to start in November 2002.
• Provision of developmentally appropriate child safety / injury prevention information at well child clinic
• Provision of child safety information at Positive Parenting Program
• Pool fence inspection research project
• Distribution of CPR Wall Chart / poster to new pool owners
• Secured funding for 12 months with a strategy to re-fund a Bicycle Education Officer through the Police Citizens Youth Club to conduct a Bike Ed Program with children in year 5. Program offered to all primary schools in Mackay.
• Integration of Queensland Transports Bike Ed Program into local Whitsunday primary schools
• Development and implementation of Operation Bike Safe, a proactive bike safety program using positive reinforcement as its strategy, utilising local police, schools and the media.
• Liaison with local Government to develop and implement supportive infrastructure / environments for safe bike riding.
• KidPower - an innovative injury prevention resource aimed at reducing primary school based injuries.

• Involvement in the planing a coordination of 'Schoolies Week' in the Whitsundays - end of school safe celebrations for school leavers.
• Development of a Safe Party Kit - a kit promoting responsible party planning and behaviour with the support of local police.
• Promoting responsible drinking of alcohol through integration of Drink Rite Program - a strategy to highlight the consumption of alcohol in relation to blood alcohol levels legal for driving

• Development, implementation and evaluation of 'Drawing the Line on Standard Drinks' - a project highlighting the quantity of wine as a standard drink to assist designated drivers in assessing their ability to drive within the legal limits.
• Development of a Safe Party Kit - a kit promoting responsible party planning and behaviour with the support of local police.

• Promoting responsible drinking of alcohol through integration of Drink Rite Program - a strategy to highlight the consumption of alcohol in relation to blood alcohol levels legal for driving

• Development of driving fatigue resource used in the induction process of Mining industry staff. Currently liaising with the Sugar industry for application there.

• Implementation of the Healthy Homes Party Program - a volunteer based peer education falls prevention program (for 55 years and over)
• Promotion of physical activity through integration of exercise programs such as Just Walk It and Sitting Dance Programs
• Community displays and distribution of home safety informaiton
• Implementation of the Safe Shop Program in central business district to enhance perceptions of safety.

At the following environments:

Home: children, older persons

Traffic: general public, children, mining community, older persons

Occupational: Healthy Island Resorts link (Public Health Risk Management strategy encorporating safety promotion to staff and resort guests), sugar terminal and mining community (recent organisational links to project).

School: children, youth

Sports/Leisure: bike riding

Violence prevention: Links have been established with the Mackay Crime Prevention Partnership.

Suicide prevention: N/A

Programs aiming at "High risk-groups":

• Elderly: preventing falls; perceptions of safety
• Children: schools, bike riding
• Occupational: fatigue prevention for heavy industry shift workers
  

Surveillance of injuries:

Injury surveillance data is collected at Emergency Departments of all public hospitals in the region (Mackay Base Hospital, Proserpine Hospital, Sarina Hospital, Dysart Hospital, Moranbah Hospital and Clermont Hospital) and the major private health institution servicing the region (Mackay Mater Private After Hours Medical Practice). Injury data is analysed by collaboration of Queensland Health, Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (www.qisu.qld.gov.au) and James Cook University.

Queensland Transport collects road crash data in collaboration the Queensland Police Service which is also used by the project.

Numbers per year: High mortality and morbidity rates for injury have been observed in the Mackay / Whitsunday region. In particular, age standardised hospital seperation rates are more than double those observed for other Queenslanders. Mackay Base Hospital (the largest health facility in the region) reports an average of 8700 injuries per year from it's Emergency Department, constituting one quarter of its caseload. Makes in Mackay are 2.5 times more likely and females 2.0 times more likely to sustain an injury requiring Emergency Department presentation when compared with the population of South Brisbane. Admission rates in the Mackay region (11.7%) are comparable with those in South Brisbane.

Population base: 126,000

Started year: The injury surveillance data collection at Emergency Departments in the region commenced in 1997. Surveillance of Hospital injury seperations by the Tropical Public Health Unit Network, Queensland Health is ongoing.

Publications:
Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit Injury Bulletin No 63 Special addition 2000: Safe Communities approach to injury prevention (www.qisu.qld.gov.au/bulletins/issue063.pdf)

Reducing Injuries in Mackay, North Queensland
www.wepi.org/rimnq/contents.html

are currently in draft form, to be published later in 2002.

• 'Safe Communities: An ecological approach to safety promotion';
• 'Becoming Queensland's First Safe Community: Considering sustainability from the outset';
• 'Collection of NDS-IS level 2 Injury Surveillance Data in Regional Queensland';
• 'Practices, Knowledge and Perceptions Towards Accident and Injury in the Mackay / Whitsunday community';
• 'Patterns and Causes of Injuries During Organised Sporting Activities in the Mackay / Whitsunday Region 1998/99';
• 'Non-Fatal Injury Presentations to the Mackay Base Hospital Emergency Department 1998/99'

Produced information material, pamphlets:

Staff :
Number: 1
Professions: Health Promotion part-time
Temporary: funding confirmed to June 2003
Organization: Tropical Public Health Unit
Specific intersectoral leadership group:

There is a Project Management Team and six project working groups that meet on a regular basis. Each working group has representation from the Project Management Team. Organisations represented on the Project Management Team are Mackay City Council (www.mackay.qld.gov.au), Whitsunday Shire Council (www.whitsunday.qld.gov.au), Queensland Transport (www.transport.qld.gov.au), Queensland Police Service (www.police.qld.gov.au), James Cook University (www.jcu.edu.au), Department of Emergency Services (www.emergency.qld.gov.au), Mackay Bulk Sugar Terminal (www.qldsugar.com) and Queensland Health (www.health.qld.gov.au).

International commitments:

Study visits: 2^nd International PhD Course on Safety Promotion Research, Karolinska Institute, Stokholm, Sweden, 1999 (Dr Dale Hanson - member of Project Management Team)

Participation in Safe Community conferences:

• Conference Presentation at the 11^th International Conference of Safe Communities at Rainy River, Canada, 2002 (Dr Dale Hanson - member of the Project Management Team)
• Attendance at World Health Organisation Safe Communities International Symposium in Melbourne 2000 (Dr Dale Hanson and Paul Vardon - members of the Project Management Team)
• Conference Presentation at the 8^th International Conference on Safe Communities, Vienna, Austria 1999 (Dr Dale Hanson - member of the Project Management Team)

Hosting Safe Community Conferences: Successful in bidding for the National Injury Prevention Conference, September 2004, with a Safe Community theme. Currently applying to the World Health Organisation to combine this with the 2^nd Pacific Rim Safe Communities Conference.

Hosting "Travelling Seminars": No

Other:

• Conference Presentations at the 6^th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Control, Montreal Canada 2002 (Dr Dale Hanson - member of the Project Management Team)
• Conference Presentations at Injury 2000: Australian Injury Prevention Network (Dr Dale Hanson - member of the Project Management Team)
• National Injury Conference, Canberra 2000: 2 papers and 2 posters (Dr Dale Hanson - member of the Project Management Team)

For further information contact:

Kathryn McFarlane
Tropical Public Health Unit Network, Queensland Health
PO Box 688
Mackay, Australia 4740
Phone +61 7 4968 3858
Fax: 61 7 4968 3857
Kathryn_Mcfarlane@health.qld.gov.au