Prehospital Screening to Prevent Injury and Illness

The goal of this project is to prevent injuries and diseases among older adults through the development and evaluation of a novel emergency medical services (EMS)-based screening program to identify preventable injuries and diseases and refer the identified injuries and diseases for intervention.

To prevent injuries and diseases among older adults, this study specifically aims to:

1. Evaluate the feasibility of an EMS-based primary prevention program that screens older adults for need of the influenza and pneumococcal vaccine and for risk of falling during emergency medical responses in a rural setting;
2. Evaluate the outcome of the EMT-implemented screening and education program by performing a 14-day telephone follow-up on older adults cared for by EMTs.

At the conclusion of this award, we will determine if an EMT-implemented primary prevention program for older adults is feasible and benefits the community.