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February 7, 2000 Community training leads to 63% reduction in farm fatalities Louisville Medical Center STATCARE Education Department
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 LOUISVILLE
— Kentucky had an unpleasant distinction in the early 1990s:
farming was three-times more dangerous in Kentucky than any other
state in the nation.
Three adjoining Kentucky's counties -- LaRue, Hardin, and Nelson Counties -- had the highest number of farm-related injures in the nation. So in 1994 LaRue County EMT Dale Dobson started holding farm safety schools on his family's farm, and after Dobson's father was critically injured in a farming accident, Dobson expanded his program to include additional training for fire departments and EMS agencies.
The result: farm accident fatalities in Kentucky have been reduced 63 percent, from 48 deaths in 1995 to 18 deaths in 1999. For more information, contact:
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| © 2000, Louisville Medical Center STATCARE |
Funded
largely by the former STAT Flight helicopter service of University of
Louisville Hospital, Dobson refined his farm safety program and expanded
it to a regional level in 1994. After the STAT Flight and Jewish
Hospital SKYCARE flight programs merged, STATCARE continued to support
this community training, particularly since SKYCARE had been active in
the Farmedic® Program.
The
farm safety program teaches both farmers, their families, and rescuers.
Public education identifies the hazards (and hazardous practices) common
to farming. Local fire departments and emergency medical services
agencies are presented lectures and hands-on practice in farm machinery
extrication and emergency pre-hospital medical care. 
Since
STATCARE is affiliated with the University of Louisville Hospital (a
Level 1 Trauma Center), Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services (a world-renowned
microsurgery and limb reattachment center), and Kosair Children's
Hospital, it was only natural for STATCARE to help provide instruction
in farm machinery extrication techniques and the most current medical
care practices for victims of major (or limb) trauma.
In
1998 Dobson was appointed by Commissioner Billy Ray Smith as the Farm
Safety Field Officer for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. With
state support, Dobson is now able to take his farm safety program
throughout all of Kentucky. The Department of Agriculture has also
established a grant program that assists counties in developing and
coordinating farm and home safety programs.
Dobson's
program now includes participation from the State Fire Rescue Training (KCTCS),
the Kentucky Farm Bureau, the University of Kentucky Extension Service,
and flight programs from Louisville Medical Center STATCARE, the
University of Kentucky Air Medical Services, St. Joseph Careflight,
Welborn Life Flight (Evansville, Ind.), University Air Care (Cincinnati,
Ohio), and Vanderbilt LifeFlight (Nashville, Tenn.). Sometimes multiple
flight programs work together in the same training session, again
proving the deep commitment that air medical programs have in reducing
injuries and fatalities in their community.