Be an ice breaker
Spread a little prevention with free road salt

St.Vincent wants you to help prevent the number of falls that lead to Emergency Room visits during winter ice storms. This December, St.Vincent Indianapolis and Carmel hospitals and several area community organizations will bag and distribute gallon-sized salt bags to senior citizens who are most at-risk for falls and injuries during ice storms.

The ERASE (Emergency Room Advise, Safety and Education) Salt Project hopes to reduce the number of falls leading to Emergency Department visits by 5 percent in 2005.

Several dump truck loads of road salt will be delivered to St.Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, where volunteers will bag, load and deliver the salt to senior citizens throughout Central Indiana. The event will take place between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the ambulance bay in front of the St.Vincent Indianapolis Hospital Emergency Department. Free salt bags will then be available in front of the St.Vincent Indianapolis and Carmel hospitals’ Emergency Departements.

Volunteers are needed from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Participants may volunteer for an hour or the entire day depending on the volunteer’s schedule. We need:

• 400 volunteers to bag salt
• 3 volunteers to drive pickup trucks and deliver salt bags
• Volunteers to transport salt in their own pickup trucks
• Load pickup trucks with bags of salt
• Assist with other duties as requested

Call Volunteer Services at 317-338-2268, or email rhbrown@stvincent.org or bahittle@stvincent.org to volunteer.

ERASE is a not-for-profit organization that includes emergency department physicians, registered nurses, medical technicians and community leaders. ERASE aims to reduce preventable injuries and illnesses through community education. The ERASE salt project is made possible by the Efroymson Fund.