The state has the nation’s second highest death rate from falls among older adults, according to the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging. On Sept. 22, the DCIP Falls Prevention Team invites the public to a free event hosted by the Modern Maturity Center, located at 1121 Forrest Ave., Dover, DE 19904.
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The center is part of a nationwide network of 37 academic and community research partners funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find ways to keep people healthy. September is Falls Prevention Awareness Month, an opportunity to elevate the important issue of falls, increase understanding of their impact, and advocate for more resources.
Still, much more must be done if we are to bend the curve and change the story of falls in Vermont. “Sometimes, falls happen when someone carries laundry down stairs without a railing”. Share your history of recent falls. Regular physical activity and exercise that combine weight, muscle strengthening and balance helps reduce the risk of falls and actually improves the health of your bones.
Exercise to increase strength and balance.
National Falls Prevention Awareness Day is observed across the country, with this year’s theme of “Ready, Steady, Balance: Prevent Falls in 2016”.
The STEADI initiative also features a guide on how to talk to patients about preventing falls, as well as posters, checklists, fact sheets, brochures, and pocket guides that health care professionals can offer their patients. “Health-care providers can help cut down a person’s risk by reducing the fall risk factors”.
Phelan said the psychological consequences of falls should not be underestimated.
“A lot of older people don’t recognize that falls can, in a flash, change their independent lifestyle”, Phelan said.
Almost 29 percent of older adults reported falling in 2014, the CDC said, with a total of 29 million falls, 7 million injuries, 2.8 million trips to the emergency room, 800,000 hospitalizations and 27,000 deaths.
For more information on the workshop and preventing falls, go to www.lacrossestopfalls.org, or call the Aging and Disability Resource Center at 608-785-5700. Communities and families can contribute to this effort by maintaining walkways, painting curbs and slopes, installing handrails, and providing ramps, automatic doors, and curb cuts for people with mobility issues. “But if the safety equipment had already been there, they might not think about it as a stigma”.
Most falls, the report noted, are preventable by addressing medication management, home safety, visual impairment and ambulation challenges.
Nurses at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center said more traumas are seen in their level 1 trauma center because of injuries sustained in falls than for any other reason.
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In recognition that falls can take a serious toll on older adults’ quality of life and independence, the ninth annual Fall Prevention Awareness Week reminds seniors, that falls are preventable.
