Employ advanced understanding of client safety issues from the hospital to home through evidence-based research and by developing resources for clients.

Beware of Black Ice Resource

Following the creation of the Fall Prevention Tips and Tricks Resource, I opted to initiate a higher level of community engagement for my next artifact. In order to impact client safety among community dwellers, I am fortunate to have had the ability to partner with Dr. Tracy Chippendale PhD, OTR/L in her efforts to conduct an outdoor fall prevention program called “Stroll Safe.” The program was supported by the NYU Challenge Grant. During this program, she met with four different groups of seniors living in Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) within the New York City area.  Overall, the Stroll Safe program's goals are to increase knowledge of outdoor fall risks and to increase safe strategy use. As a volunteer research intern, I was tasked with data collection by administering surveys over the phone, data entry, and making resources that would add meaningful opportunities to learn during the program. 

I greatly enjoyed my time participating in community audits with the Jewish Association for Senior Aged (JASA) NORC "Stroll Safe" Program. I helped facilitate two outdoor community audits with a group of seniors in Coney Island, Brooklyn, using the "Stakeholders’ Walkability/ Wheelability Audit in Neighborhood (SWAN)." We selected streets that held significance for the seniors to conduct the audit.

To further contribute to the "Stroll Safe" program, I developed a resource titled "Beware of Black Ice" designed for distribution among seniors. Using data on seasonal shade coverage from NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, I compiled a user-friendly map and list highlighting areas with an increased risk of black ice. 

While producing the “Beware of Black Ice” resource, it was important to evaluate the big picture: our audience and their varying abilities. Dr. Tracy Chippendale consulted the seniors to identify meaningful locations in the community. While considering varying levels of map literacy among our audience, I created a simple map based on the Shadow map above. To ensure the project's sustainability, I developed instructions for future lab assistants to create maps for others. Additionally, I utilized NYC's Vision Zero resource to identify potentially unsafe corridors within the "Stroll Safe" neighborhoods. This information was distributed among individuals aging in place, aiming to contribute to their safety awareness.