Falls are perhaps one of the most serious threats facing seniors today, with the CDC reporting over 14 million, or 1 in 4 older adults falling every year and the consequences including anything from fractures to brain bleeds to more severe hospital emergencies. The bad news is that falls are common and costly, but the good news is that they are also preventable.
Join our Resident Care Specialist, Suzanne Price, for this informative episode as she dives deeper into the topic of senior falls and how we can take steps to actively prevent them from happening to loved ones.
Suzanne shares insights into the most common reasons seniors fall and a recurring common denominator is simply moving around the house or in places where you feel most familiar. Impulsive moves to jump up and answer the telephone or forgetting to take your walker to the bathroom, while they might not seem like life-threatening decisions, certainly can be at the wrong place and wrong time.
Additionally, Suzanne share’s how our age and/or medical conditions can play a significant factor in fall risks, so it’s always advisable to consult your primary physician to understand your level of danger and navigate prevention with the help of loved ones accordingly.
Suzanne shares several key tips for preventing seniors’ risk of falls, which can include removing bulky furniture or any object that presents a tripping risk, increasing lighting throughout your home or senior living apartment, as well as evaluating if rugs could pose a slipping risk or uneven flooring. To learn more, watch the full feature below.
When it comes to keeping families and their senior loved ones prepared for any challenges that may come their way, The Arbor Company takes immense pride in providing the resources and professional services they need every step of the way. For more information on locating a senior living apartment that is equipped with industry-leading safety features and 24/7 emergency services, check out one of our beautiful, spacious communities near you and book your tour today!
Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Senior Living Live. My name is Mary Cate Spires, and I am here with Suzanne Price, who is a resident care specialist for us at The Arbor Company. And we are so excited. Today, we are gonna talk about fall prevention and just falls in general with seniors. So thank you so much, Suzie, for sitting down with me.
My pleasure.
Alright. So let's kinda kick it off. Falls, we hear a lot about falls, but can you kinda talk to start about what are some common causes of falls for seniors?
So one of the most common that I hear a lot from seniors after the fact is, I was just going to the bathroom for this, so I didn't take my walker. Or the phone rang, so I jumped up to go answer the phone. So I would say that those impulsive kind of not thinking about the safety measure and just jumping up to do something you've probably done your whole life, but you probably shouldn't be doing at this point without the support or taking your time is a major cause of falls. A lot of environmental issues, tripping, whether it's over a shoelace or your shoes weren't the right kind of shoes to be wearing. There's a little bit of a ridge between the bathroom and the living room, a loose carpet. You know, those little things are really the big things.
Yeah. Absolutely. And how, you know, a senior, a caregiver, how can someone, you know, assess that they might be a fall risk? You know, they know they need to know that to start paying attention to these things.
Absolutely. I would say if you're in the range of sixty and over, it's a given that your fall risk is increasing. And as we age, unfortunately, that risk does continue to increase. So first of all, your age is a factor. And I would recommend talking to your doctor about what your specific fall risks might be. If you have blood pressure issues, depending on the medications you're on, if you've got some instability in some of those, disease processes, Parkinson's, things that affect your gait will add to a fall risk. So it's important to talk to your doctor and see what they might recommend. Maybe some PT, OT therapies would be helpful. I think everyone actually should be involved in that, So those are good places to start.
Absolutely. It's a great tip to talk to your doctor. And, you know, no one wants to fall, but we probably don't, we don't always think about, you know, what the consequences of a fall could be. Can you talk a little bit about that and, you know, why we should care about preventing falls?
Yes. Absolutely. Unfortunately, falls can affect our quality of life by quite an extreme measure. Most falls occur around our home, but the serious consequences of fall might be a brain bleed that takes you to the emergency room, a fracture, some kind of injury that requires an emergency room visit, hospitalization, and perhaps a short term rehab after. There's a chance that you might never get back to your baseline after that fall. One in four individuals who are in a senior living age group will fall. Out of those, I believe it's eighty-eight million falls require, in a year, require medical attention. So when you start to think about that, it's quite astounding the impact it has.
Absolutely. Especially when there are preventative measures you can take and, you know, just being aware of the fact that you could fall.
Yes.
And with that, you know, for seniors whether even if they're in an apartment in a senior living community or in their home where they've been for a long time. Like, what are some things that families and seniors can do to help prevent falls environmentally?
Yeah. So this is something I just did with my own mother. And what we did is we walked through her home from room to room with the eyes of what could possibly present as a fall risk. And I was surprised by how many different things we did see when we looked at through those eyes. Furniture that's bulky, that sticks out too much, anything that is a tripping risk, things like poor lighting. So when you think about walk your loved one through their day, literally, physically, I said, okay, mom, from the time you get up, let's walk through your day. So we saw that her telephone is not in a convenient place. So if she jumps up every time the phone rings, the chances of her having a fall are a lot more than if the phone was set right by her recliner. If you can get the automatic smart switches for lights, those are the kind of things that really help. And important is to remind your loved one to turn on those lights before they get up in the night to go to the bathroom. Low lighting on the floor in hallways. Look at the rugs. Are there loose edges in the bathroom? Are the throw rugs the kind that will slip easily from underneath, footing? Are there uneven places in kitchens, in carpet areas? Just walk all over and look at that and then make a list of things to change. Clutter is huge. So I know sometimes it's hard to talk to someone about that, but, my mom and I sat down and we just kind of made a plan and worked through it and got a more simpler path everywhere she was going. And it really made a difference.
Yeah. Absolutely. And when you really are focused on it, it makes it much easier than, you know, oh, you don't you didn't think about that before.
Yes.
Yes. So let's talk, you know, heaven forbid someone does have a fall. What, you know, what do you recommend as that next step?
So first of all, a lot of times, I think seniors are a little bit hesitant if nobody knew they had a fall to let someone know they had a fall, especially if it's in their own home. They're afraid that their family will be upset or start talking about perhaps moving to something with more support. It is really important to let your doctor know if you had a fall. There might be something going on that you are not aware of and they can do that check. Blood pressure, your vital signs, again, looking at your meds, trying to look at risk factors, identifying specifically for you what might have caused that fall and then go forward with a plan. Yeah.
That's great advice. I could understand. You might be a little embarrassed, but it's best to for the future for everyone to know.
Yes.
So kinda in general to wrap us up, do you have any, you know, other best practices in fall for fall prevention that we haven't really gone over yet?
I would say, and I think this is for everyone. Unfortunately, as we get older because our body isn't cooperating as much, it tends to be more of a problem, but slow down. Instead of jumping right up, especially for a senior, that blood pressure drops a lot of times when you stand up too quickly. Take your time. It's never worth a fall. If the phone rings, let it ring. If you need to go to the bathroom, take your time. Don't rush it. Those are the kind of things that a lot of falls come from is just not thinking about it and just muscle memory jumping up or rushing. If you have a walker, use it in your apartment, not just out in the community. Going from the living room to the bathroom is a short distance, but that is where a lot of falls take place. So use your walker if you have one. If you don't, is it time to look into that? Ask your doctor for an order for physical therapy and see what they can do to evaluate your gait, your balance, and go from there.
Yeah. This was fantastic. Such great advice. Thank you, Suzanne. I know you're very busy, so I appreciate you sitting down with us to chat. Thank you.
Alright, everyone. That's it for this week. If you are interested in learning more about fall prevention or other topics about senior health and safety, you can go to seniorlivinglive.com for more videos just like this one. Bye, everyone.