Falls Prevention Awareness Week educates older adults in Harlem
NEW YORK - Next week, we say goodbye to summer and hello to fall, and the National Council on Aging is using the transition to raise awareness about preventing falls.
One in four seniors over 65 years old falls each year. Trip hazards are everywhere, and as we age, our bodies do not bounce back like before. Falls are the number one injury-related cause of death in older adults.
Altagracia Ruiz and Carlos Ramirez practice preventing falls by working on their balance, in their nursing home run by the New York Catholic Diocese health provider ArchCare.
"They talk about the shoes," Ruiz said about tips she learned. "I do everything what they say."
Staff encourage their seniors to speak up when they notice dizziness or changes in their vision or strength, important first signs of a fall risk.
"If you can't see it, you can't avoid it, so I think let's make sure that you see the eye doctor," ArchCare rehab services director Jennifer Anderson told Ramirez.
At the Draper Hall apartments for older Harlemites, ArchCare just opened a new branch to offer even more residents help at home.
"You receive all of those services in a coordinated fashion," Anderson said. "And in that event that they have a fall, we are there for them immediately responding to that."
Beyond prevention, it is helpful to have a plan to protect yourself at the start of a slip because a first fall dramatically increases the risk of a future one. An initial reaction to stick a stiff landing makes brittle bones even more prone to pain.
"Quite frankly, fracturing our hand or our wrist is better than fracturing our head or the rest of our body," Anderson said.
If you find yourself falling, try to stay relaxed and avoid the worst of possible injury.
National Falls Prevention Awareness Week runs Sept. 19-23.
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