Falls pose a serious health hazard for older adults. Each year, around 3 million individuals end up in the emergency room because of falls. Of those, over 800,000 are hospitalized for conditions like head injuries or hip fractures.
As such, fall prevention is a crucial component of home and personal safety for seniors. We've written previously about how to fall-proof your home; here, we'll go over even more strategies for senior fall prevention to help keep you and your loved ones safe (and upright!).
How To Prevent Falls
Fall prevention is an ongoing process. Even after you've fall-proofed your home, it's important to continue maintaining your home environment for safety and actively working to reduce your risk. There are a few ways you can do this, including:
- Get Regular Checkups. Have your eyes and feet checked at least once a year. Talk to your doctor about any risk factors that might make you more prone to falls, such as chronic conditions, medications that affect your balance or coordination, and previous falls, and ask them for suggestions on how to manage those risks.
- Keep a Clean, Organized Home. Even if your home is properly fall-proofed, clutter on the floors can be a major tripping hazard. Be sure to keep things tidy or hire someone to help. Consider rearranging shelves, closets, and other storage space to ensure that everything you need is easily accessible.
- Have a Plan. Falls happen even despite our best efforts to prevent them. Work with a caregiver, doctor, or other professionals to ensure that if you do fall, you know what to do to get help quickly. Remember that depending on the extent of your injuries, you may not be able to get up or move. Keep your cell phone with you at all times, or invest in a medical alert device. Consider setting up a daily check-in system with a family member or friend, and ask them to alert authorities or check on you if they don't hear from you.
Spectrum Community Services is committed to improving the quality of life for low-income families, seniors, and individuals in Alameda County. Through financial assistance and other services, our goal is to support community members in building healthy, safe, and independent lives. Contact us to learn more about our services, or consider making a donation to support our work. We can't wait to work with you!
The goal of Spectrum’s Fall Prevention Program is to teach our older adult population how to recognize, and reduce, the factors that lead to falls. With a combination of evidence-based fitness and educational programming, we help older adults identify their fall risks. We work to help them make the physical improvements, behavioral changes and environmental modifications that will keep them fall free. Visit our website at www.SpectrumCS.org for more information about the Fall Prevention Program or click HERE to see current program offerings.