forcing onChange in a partial

I have a partial view which incorporates on onChange option in a form. It works great when I actually change the select box which it is an option to. However, when the div which contains this partial first shows, the onChange doesn;t fire. How can I force this to fire when it is first shown? Thanks Janna B,

<%= f.label :country %><br />   <%= f.country_select :country, Carmen.default_country, {},     {       :onChange => remote_function( :url => { :action => '_get_states' }, :update => "state", :with => "'country=' +value")     } %>