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Mission
”ThinkFirst:
Leading injury prevention through education, research and policy.”
- The ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation
“One of the leading causes of death is preventable.”
- Russell Amundson, MD
History
The ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation, formally known as the National Head and Spinal Cord Injury Prevention Program, was first implemented nationally in 1986. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) directed two neurosurgeons, E. Fletcher Eyster, MD, of Pensacola, Florida and Clark Watts, MD, of Columbia, Missouri to develop a national injury prevention program based on their previous prevention efforts in their respective communities.
The AANS and CNS initiated the development of the national program due to their frustration at not being able to cure or "fix" brain and spinal cord injured patients. These groups share the belief that prevention is the only cure, and that neurosurgeons have a duty to try to prevent these traumatic injuries. Eyster and Watts saw the assignment from the two largest professional neurosurgical organizations as an opportunity to recruit other health professional to undertake public education prevention efforts, as well as to address public policy issues related to injury prevention.
Each locally established program was sponsored by a neurosurgeon committed to public education and injury prevention. The replicable program materials consisted of a youth-oriented program, reinforcement and public education program, and a program to influence public attitudes and legislative policy. ThinkFirst's initial program, ThinkFirst for Teens, was offered to middle and high school audiences to teach young people about personal vulnerability and risk taking.
The tremendous response to the program throughout the country led to its institutionalization by the AANS and CNS. Their continued support is a statement of the national neurosurgical community's ongoing commitment to public health and injury prevention.
The efficacy of the ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation has been demonstrated through its increasing acceptance by school educators, student essays, letters from parents and public officials, adoption by professional organizations, the measurement of attitude changes toward injury by students, and the increased usage of safety belts in the targeted age group.
National and international recognition
The ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation received the 1988 Presidential Citation for Private Sector Initiatives and the 1989 Award for Excellence in Prevention Education from the American Medical Association. In 2000, Life Space Adaptation Projects of the University of Toronto identified ThinkFirst as an example of "Best practice" in the category of Comprehensive Community-Based Prevention Strategies. Two years later, the California Department of Education recognized ThinkFirst for Kids as a research-validated program and accepted it into its California Healthy Kids Resource Center, making the curriculum and its supplementary materials available for loan throughout the California educational system.
A new era
Today, the ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation offers a research-validated multi-level educational program that has reached over 8 million young people nationally and internationally, has had major influences on public policy initiatives, and continues to expand to reach those most vulnerable to traumatic injuries. Founded in neurosurgery, ThinkFirst, by virtue of its work in treating patients who have sustained traumatic injuries, physicians and allied health professional are natural spokespersons for prevention. Recently, ThinkFirst has expanded its efforts to encourage all health professionals to get involved. ThinkFirst provides health professionals with the impetus, tools, and support to assist in spreading the prevention message in their communities, especially to young people.
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