ThinkFirst Navajo…Preventing Injuries… Saving Lives

Representatives of Eve's Fund accepting a Quality of Life Grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation on February 24, 2012 for our ThinkFirst Navajo Injury Prevention Program.

Eve's Fund founder, Dr. Robert M. Crowell, in center with ThinkFirst Navajo speakers, Chris Chichully, left. & Cecelia Fred, right, preparing for a VIP presentation to a group of school children.

Life on the Navajo Nation is not easy. Among the Navajo population, the death rate from motor vehicle crashes is more than three times the national average. Most of these accidents are alcohol-related, and many involve young adults and children. Death rates from domestic violence and suicide are also far above national averages.

One of Eve’s Fund’s major programs – ThinkFirst Navajo – was started in an effort to address these alarming statistics and to prevent fatal and disabling injuries on the Navajo Nation. It is one of 250 chapters of ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation, an organization dedicated to preventing brain and spinal cord injury.

Injury Survivors Reach Out to Navajo Youth

ThinkFirst Navajo’s injury prevention program targets children and teens. We reach youth in these high-risk age groups at schools, community presentations, and sports programs with the help of VIPs (Voices for Injury Prevention), a dedicated group of injury survivors who share the message that prevention is the only solution.

In the past seven years, Navajo VIPs have visited more than 85 schools and spoken to more than 10,000 students. VIPs talk about their own injuries and discuss injury prevention solutions such as wearing seatbelts, using a designated driver, and wearing bike helmets.

Vital Community Outreach

From the start, ThinkFirst Navajo worked with a community-based steering committee of 20 Navajo people to insure that the program was in harmony with Navajo tradition and culture.

Over time, grants and donations have helped us grow into a structured organization with more speakers and staff. Through generous financial contributions, we’ve developed training programs for teachers and speakers, expanded our curriculum and taught more Navajo youth about the importance of injury prevention.

Keep Navajo Youth Safe

Our injury prevention programs are having a positive impact on the Native children we serve, but we need your help to keep the momentum going. Join others who have said, “I want to help keep Navajo youth safe from disabling or fatal injuries.”

Please make a secure, online donation today (click the button below) or send a check to the address listed:

ThinkFirst Navajo is a 2009 and 2011 recipient of a"Quality of Life" grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

 

Share/Bookmark