The University of Delaware, Bayhealth, and ChristianaCare team up during Falls Prevention Awareness Week to help aging adults understand their risks and stay safe as they age at home.
According to the CDC, falls were the leading cause of injury death among adults 65 and older in 2020, with 36,000 deaths reported in the US.
In the same year, there were 3 million emergency department visits for aging adult falls.
Bayhealth geriatric clinical nurse specialist Felicia Cruz serves on the Delaware Coalition for Injury Prevention. She says those stats are reflected in the First State.
“Consistently falls have been the number one injury for the state,” said Cruz. “So a lot of attention should be placed on this topic, because we do want to see our community members aging well without falls. As we know, the older that we get, a fall can be catastrophic. So we want to prevent those events from occurring.”
In an effort to reach Delaware’s aging adult community, Cruz joined physical therapy students from UD and other medical professionals to conduct gait and balance, medical history, and other fall risk screenings during a one-day senior health fair.
That included Trevor Mahoney, a physical therapist at the University of Delaware’s physical therapy clinic.
“Research tells us that when you've had one fall, the chances and likelihood of falling again are greater,” Mahoney explained. “More often than not, as we age, the balance centers in our body tend to deteriorate. Our sensations are less sharp, our vision becomes less fine-tuned, our inner ear functioning doesn't work as well. So as those balance centers deteriorate, our balance gets worse, and then we are at an increased risk for falls.”
UD’s physical therapy team handled the gait and balance screenings, while ChristianaCare and Bayhealth staff tackled the medical education side- asking older adults about certain risk factors for falling, including their medications, fall history, and home set-up.
Following the screenings, participants received personalized tips on fall prevention.
“Their goal is to age healthy at home. And that is our goal for them, as well. And so we try to provide them with the tools to do so,” explained Cruz. “We share information with them on ways to make home improvements. If we have any balance concerns, we talk about the use of assistive devices. And then we loop in their primary care provider, and share this information with them, so they can perhaps write prescriptions for assistive devices and other durable medical equipment that might be needed to improve their patient’s mobility and keep them where they want to be, which is at home and aging well.”
Aging adults were given the screenings at no cost on Thursday.
Falls Prevention Awareness Week runs from September 18th to the 22nd, part of the state’s formally recognized Healthy Aging Month.
