The Injury Prevention Centre is providing suggestions to reduce the number of Albertans getting injured.
According to the organization, Alberta is spending an estimated $4 billion per year treating injuries, which amounts to $1,083 for every Albertan and is 30 per cent higher than the national average.
“It’s a healthcare emergency. It’s a societal emergency. If the same number of people die every year from preventable infectious disease like meningitis, we would be up in arms because there’s a vaccine that would prevent this. This is the same,” Stollery Children’s Hospital Dr. Bill Sevcik said.
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The centre said an average of five Albertans die every day from injuries, making it the leading cause of death in the province for people between one and 44 years of age.
The organization said injuries are preventable but it hasn’t been a priority for the Alberta government.
Alberta would save $600 million annually if the injury rate dropped to the national average.
“I think we need to change the culture here in Alberta to accept that injuries are preventable. Change our behaviours a little bit so that we’re not thinking one thing and doing another thing like with traffic safety,” Injury Prevention Centre director Don Voaklander said.
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The Injury Prevention Centre invited experts in the field to speak at an event at the University of Alberta Thursday morning.
Speakers suggested shortening the hours liquor stores are allowed to be open because they said alcohol is a factor in a noticeable percentage of injuries.
They also cited distracted driving as another reason for injuries, so they discussed having increased penalties for drivers who violate that law.
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