About Us

The IPC 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, Firearm Safe Storage, drug abuse prevention, poison prevention, motor vehicle crash prevention, child passenger safety, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and water safety.

Chairperson:   

Syndi Bultman RN, MS, CEN

Injury Prevention Resource Coordinator

Trauma Center, Gulf Coast Medical Center

Syndi Bultman 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. She has been a staff nurse, supervisor, and nurse manager of emergency/trauma services. In 2003, Syndi developed an injury prevention program for trauma services, based on the top five trauma alerts at the center. 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. Active with the Lee County MPO bike/Ped committee and recently taking on the position of co-hairperson for this group. She has also been active with the Drug Free Coalition of Lee County since 2004, bringing a trauma bay for the Drug House Odyssey since 2006. Certified Stop the Bleed Instructor, Certified Mental Health First Aide instructor for Adults. Train-the-Trainer for GATE (Youth Violence Program) and works with a broad spectrum of the population.