In your family, do you have adult loved ones who may be at a risk of falling? The injuries caused when a senior adult falls can be devastating and, in fact, may have long-term effects on the overall health of the senior adult. In the worst case, they can be fatal. However, the good news is that most falls are preventable. With support from adult children and some knowledge about fall prevention and lifestyle adjustments, aging parents and grandparents can greatly reduce the risks of falling, and the hip fractures and head injuries that too often result.
Where can you look for knowledge about fall prevention? Start by looking for information during National Fall Prevention Awareness Day, which is September 22, 2022. The event is hosted by the National Council on Aging and offers a wide range of educational tools and materials to learn about the impact of senior falls and the costs to their families. More information can be found here.
If you have older loved ones in your family, you should start now to determine the risk level of your older loved ones and whether they need additional assistance. We would like to share the following warning signs:
• Decline in mental alertness
• A recent fall, or near-fall
• Vision problems
• Balance issues
• Frailty and muscular weakness
• Changes in physical health, such as a recent surgery
Exercise support groups that offer evidence-based programs, such as Tai Chi, can help prevent falls. Encourage your senior loved ones to get screened for osteoporosis. Also have your senior loved ones prescription medications evaluated for side effects, like dizziness.
For home safety, be sure to evaluate the homes of your loved ones to further reduce or eliminate senior adult falls, including:
• Improving lighting both inside and outside a senior adult’s home
• Removing rugs or securing their edges to the floor
• Fixing broken floorboards, cracked pavement and other uneven surfaces
• Rearranging furniture to create wide walkways
• Removing clutter and small objects from the floor
• Adding grab bars to bathtubs, stairways and toilet areas
In the unfortunate instance of a fall occurring outside your senior loved one’s home, you may need to contact a qualified Florida elder care attorney and learn about your older loved one’s rights. Falls outside the home are sometimes caused by negligence and there is little anyone at any age can do to prevent them. However, recouped monies may be needed to pay for expensive medical care.
At the Perlin Estate Planning & Probate our credentials enable us to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to our legal services. By building relationships with our clients, we are also able to understand each client’s needs and desires, and we support such goals through thoughtful, comprehensive planning techniques. We encourage you to contact us and schedule a meeting.