Safety coalition wins award of excellence

At a ceremony Nov. 11 during the Canadian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion conference, Paul Kells, president and founder of Safe Communities Canada, presented the 2007 Safe Communities Canada Award of Excellence for Community Leadership to the Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition.
Accepting the award was RRVSC chair Grace Silander.
The Safe Communities Canada Award of Excellence for Community Leadership recognizes outstanding examples of how real community leadership can—and does—make a difference in our network of designated communities.
Safe Community Leadership Tables in a Safe Community is the group of community leaders who set the priorities for its injury prevention and safety promotion programs, as well as engage the community in its injury prevention and safety promotion priorities.
“The co-operative approach of the Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition’s Leadership Table in establishing program and service delivery priorities is an excellent framework for all of us in the safety reduction field to emulate,” Kells said in presenting the award.
“Over the course of the last year, wide-ranging innovative initiatives that focused on rail safety, car seat compliance, substance abuse, and senior safety were successfully executed,” he added.
Silander was honoured to receive the award on behalf of the volunteers associated with the Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition.
“Since being designated a safe community by Safe Communities Canada in 1997, and then designated a World Health Organization Safe Community in 2002, we have worked incredibly hard within our community to reduce the risk of avoidable injuries and deaths with the tremendous support of [funders/community groups] and are very proud of our accomplishments,” Silander said.
“Our most recent initiative began as a colouring contest for children focused on rail safety,” she noted. “Quickly it grew into a poster campaign utilizing the winning images and then became placemats used in local diners across the district.
“Without the support of local businesses, there is no way we could have reached the number of people we did with a message that could save their lives,” Silander stressed.
“I am very proud of what we have done over the last 10 years, and we are looking forward to another safe and successful decade ahead.”
Safe Communities Canada is a national charitable organization dedicated to helping communities build the capacity and resources they will need as they commit to co-ordinated, thoughtful, and strategic programs to reduce the pain of injury and death, as well as promote a culture of safety in every community in the country.