How We Are Helping Prevent Falls in Burlington

Falls can change independence quickly. A brief screening can help identify areas to strengthen, so older adults can feel more confident moving through daily life.

A simple accident like tripping on a rug or falling on a wet floor can have drastic effects. Falling can lead to broken bones and is the predominant way hips are broken in older adults each year. Serious falls are more common than you may expect, with one in every four older adults suffering one each year. While falling may be scary, there are several ways to help prevent falls in the home. Read on to learn more about fall prevention tips and how we’re using technology to better assist us in reducing fall-related hospitalizations throughout Burlington.

Fall Prevention Tips

Falls can lead to serious and sometimes fatal injuries, especially in older adults. The good news is that there are several easy fall prevention measures you can implement. These should go right into your daily life to help reduce your risk of falling.

• See your healthcare team – they will want to know about medications you are taking that may have side effects that can increase your risk. They’ll also want to know about any previous falls – falling once doubles your risk for falling again!
• Stay active – physical activity goes a long way toward fall prevention. Consider activities such as strength or balance training, walking, water aerobics, or tai chi.
• Wear the right shoes – footwear such as high heels, floppy slippers, and shoes with slick soles can make you more likely to slip and fall. Wear properly fitting, sturdy, and flat shoes.
• Remove home hazards – remove clutter from walkways, move coffee tables from high traffic areas, secure loose rugs, repair loose or broken floorboards, store necessities within easy reach, immediately clean spills, and use nonslip mats and grab bars in the bathroom.
• Take advantage of lights – place nightlights in your bedroom, bathroom, and hallways, put a lamp within reach of your bed, clear pathways to light switches, consider swapping to glow-in-the-dark light switches, turn on lights before going up or down stairs, and store flashlights in easy-to-find places.
• Use assistive devices – these can make a large difference in falling or not. Utilize handrails on stairways, nonslip treads for wooden steps, a raised toilet seat with armrests, grab bars in the shower or tub, and a sturdy plastic seat in the shower.

How We Are Helping to Prevent Falls

At Griswold, we believe prevention is one of the most meaningful forms of care. That is why we have integrated Able Assess to offer a quick strength screening. This is a simple way to understand mobility factors that can influence fall risk. Falls can change independence quickly. A brief screening can help identify areas to strengthen—so older adults can feel more confident moving through daily life.

Able Care and their Able Assess technology allow us to easily conduct a strength assessment of you or a loved one within a few short minutes. It uses one sensor to measure grip strength, balance, leg strength, and gait speed to assess risk of falling. By conducting the assessment, we can help reduce falls and decrease hospitalizations throughout Burlington. After the assessment, the results provide a simple way to support prevention conversations and care planning.

How Can Griswold Help?

Our Caregivers, and possibly in conjunction with our technology, are here to help. Whether you are a veteran receiving home care, in need of dementia support, recovering from surgery, or recovering from a fall. We offer care services that help with all of the above and more. If this sounds like something you’re interested in learning more about, please do not hesitate to reach out. For fall prevention our Caregivers can assist with placing night lights in hallways and other dark areas, adding non-slip mats in frequently used areas of the home, active range-of-motion exercise, and more.

If you need a short break, our respite care can help. If you need more attention, our care goes all the way up to 24-hour home care for those who need support throughout the day and night. We provide home care services throughout Burlington and the surrounding areas. Give us a call today to learn more about how we can best help you.