About Us

The ICP is a multi-disciplinary cooperative of private and public partners that include fire and rescue agencies, emergency medical services, law enforcement agencies, hospital outreach programs, health agencies, and public and private schools. This strong partnership provides increased resources, efficiency, and consistent delivery of unified safety messages to the public.

It was organized in response to problems identified in the Lee County community needs assessment conducted in the early 1990s. The assessment reported that injury prevention was the area of most need to improve the community’s health. Lee County Health Director, Dr. Judith Hartner, committed the health department in 1994 to become the lead agency to address the problem of injury in the country.

In 1995, representatives of the 31 agencies that participated in the Assessment came together and formed a coalition with the Lee County Health Department (now Florida Department of Health-Lee County representative, Glenda Wolnik, elected as the Chair. Two other leaders at that time were Alise Flanjak , Lee County Parks and Recreation, and David Kainrad, Lee County Emergency Medical Services. The Lee County Safe Kids Coalition (now Safe Kids Lee/Collier) has been an integral part of the coalition. True to her promise, Dr. Hartner funded an injury prevention department for 13 years before handing the program off to the community in 2008. At that time, Lee County Emergency Medical Services and Lee County Parks and Recreation provided financial support as did Attorney Bruce L Scheiner. Waterman Broadcasting delivered in-kind contributions by way of air time for injury prevention spots. Lee Heath (formerly Lee Memorial Health System) staff became a major participant in the coalition. Lee Health is the home of the region’s trauma center. 

Most of those originating agencies are still active in the IPC. The coalition's injury prevention initiatives include falls prevention, fire safety, gun safety, drug abuse prevention, poison prevention, motor vehicle crash prevention, child passenger safety, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and water safety.

Chairperson: Mr. Brian Raimondo
Received his Bachelor Degree in Geography in 1998, and became a planner in SWFL in 1999. His focus areas are GIS, crash data, safety and transportation disadvantaged. He started attending IPC meetings in 1999, elected a Board member in 2011 and elected the IPC Chairman in January 2015 and again in January 2017. He believes agency partnerships are a necessity in injury prevention. Having lived in Lee County for 16 years he knows the unique challenges it faces. Brian and his wife Tania live on a ranch east of Punta Gorda with their two cats, two dogs and their livestock.

Vice-Chairperson: Syndi Bultman RN, MS, CEN
Injury Prevention Resource Coordinator, Trauma Center Lee Health
Syndi has been a resident of Lee County since 1988. She has been employed with Lee Health system as a registered nurse since then specializing in Emergency/Trauma care. Since 2003, Syndi has been active in the Injury Prevention role. Syndi develops and promotes injury prevention programming throughout a five county region  of the Trauma district. Certified Stop the Bleed Instructor, Certified Mental Health First Aide instructor for Adults., Board member of Step Smart (Falls Prevention Program), Train the Trainer for GATE (Youth Violence Program) and works with a board spectrum of the population. She has been a member of the Lee County Injury Prevention Coalition since 2004 holding positions as secretary and Chairperson of the coalition. She has also been a member of the Florida Department of Health Injury Prevention Advisory Council since 2007 and in 2015 was appointed by Governor Scott to the Florida Department of Health Injury and Violence Prevention Advisory Council.

Press Secretary: Jodi Van Cooney

Julie Noble 

Safe Kids Coordinator 

Tracey Walton 

Trauma Outreach 

Diane Holm 

Advisory Council, National Drowning Prevention Alliance

Diane Holm is the Founding Vice President and Past president of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, in addition to being a former Chairperson of the Lee County Drowning Prevention Task Force. While she was chairperson, the task force brought the pre-school age drownings to zero in 2005, and hosted Lee County’s first National Drowning Prevention Symposium in 2006. She encouraged formation of a statewide drowning prevention program, and the stockpiling of temporary fencing to be used around home pools following hurricanes. She produced and directed the bi-lingual video production “Prevent Drowning…Protect with Layers!” found on the IPC and other web sites. She brought the Life Jacket Loaner program to Lee County for boaters, which continues today at the city-owned Cape Coral Yacht Club boater gas pumps. Diane worked professionally in the area of drowning prevention for seven years. She continues to volunteer for the American Red Cross as a Water Safety Instructor Trainer and Lifeguard Instructor. She also volunteers as CPR Instructor for the Edison Sailing Center, and formerly as a US Sailing Certified Dingy Level I sailing and power boating instructor.
She is accredited through FEMA as an Advanced PIO, and teaches the FEMA’s Basic Level PIO course. Her HCHP work is focused on battling obesity with healthy lifestyles including nutrition and physical activity. She is a graduate of Ohio University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. 

Lowell W. Gerson   

Lowell has been a Lee County resident since 2004. He is Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University. Dr. Gerson is a pioneer in geriatric emergency medicine with particular interests in injury prevention and improving outcomes for older emergency department patients. The American College of Emergency Medicine awarded Dr. Gerson with an Honorary Lifetime Membership. The Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine’s highest honor is the Gerson-Sanders Award. He was a Visiting Senior Scientist at the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and the South Australian Ageing Project. He was a member of the steering committee for the Ohio Commission on the Prevention of Injury and past IPC Chair.

Sally Kreuscher 

CPS/ Drowning 

David Fender 

Occupational, Safety & Health 

Sgt. James Lear 

Cape Coral Police Department