Presenter: Marcus Rennick, MPH Epidemiologist Infectious Disease Bureau
Boston Public Health Commission
Description:
The city of Boston has taken a pro-active stand to increase physical activity to decrease chronic disease. Included in that plan is to increase bicycle use and accessibility. Boston has been increasing the number of bike paths and lanes, introduced a new bike-share program, and held many city-wide, high profile cycling events. The Boston Public Health Commission has been leading a task force to promote healthy and safe bicycling, in part by identifying safety concerns. Syndromic data was used to describe the current demographic profile of bicycle injury visits to Emergency Departments. This data is being combined with first responder data to pinpoint the hotspots of injury location. A comprehensive profile of injury burden can enable public health to target prevention efforts, allow police to enhance traffic law enforcement, and inform transportation decisions when changing the built environment.
