NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) – The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma reports that injury accounts for over 150,000 deaths and more than 3 million non-fatal injuries each year in the United States.
Globally, injuries are responsible for over 5 million deaths annually, with millions more affected by non-fatal trauma.
Great Plains Health General Surgery physician Dr. Michael Simonson emphasizes the importance of recognizing traumatic injuries.
“In this area, we see types of injuries associated with agriculture and manufacturing,” said Dr. Simonson. “But certainly the most common type of injury worldwide is accidental falls. Otherwise, motor vehicle accidents are one of the most common, more traditional forms of trauma, worldwide.”
Dr. Simonson stresses that prevention is key.
“Seatbelt laws are designed to prevent injuries or injuries from being as severe. In the case of a motor vehicle accident, helmets can allow people to live through what may have been a fatal motorcycle crash,” he said. “Even going into people’s homes when they might be elderly and a little more frail and prone to a fall and it can be helpful to teach them ways to get around their house more safely. Putting up handrails in bathrooms to get out of the shower.”
He also notes that traumatic injuries from falls affect more than just older adults.
“When you think about falls, anything from a fall from a balcony, trampoline injury or a fall from a ladder,” said Dr. Simonson. “Ground level falls in elderly folks are one of the areas of trauma most over looked because people fall all the time and you over look it until it involves something like internal injury.”
Dr. Simonson adds that Great Plains Health, and most health care systems, offer a variety of outreach opportunities in relation to traumatic injury prevention. These include courses on how to best avoid falling and if unavoidable, how to best fall without suffering serious injury.
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