How Do You Keep Elderly Parents from Falling?

A guest post by Jane L. David.

Many of us worry about aging family members falling. Even those of us in our 60s begin to sense changes in balance. I often find myself banging a hip on a doorframe that seems to have moved into my path or tripping and just catching myself.

For many older seniors the consequences of falling can mean the end of independence. That’s why doctors and caretakers and senior residences pay so much attention to minimizing the risk of falling. Grab bars in the bathroom, emergency response buttons, good lighting, no throw rugs—these all contribute.

My 93-year–old mother who has lived at Stevenson House for 5 years had not taken a spill at all until last Christmas. Stevenson House goes out of its way to ensure that all possible fall prevention practices are in place. But last Christmas my mother was at my house, not in her apartment.

I’ve observed two kinds of falls. One I call the slow tumble, which can result from bumping into something and will produce bruises or worse if hard objects are encountered on the way down. These falls are less likely to result in a broken hip but can still leave seniors unable to get up by themselves.
 
The other is tripping. When you trip, you hit the floor hard before you even know what happened. On her way to set the table (leaving her cane behind), my mother tripped and landed with a loud thump on the hardwood floor covered by a 5’x7’ rug that had become invisible to me. Even with a non-skid pad beneath, the edge of the rug was a disaster in the making.

My mother was lucky. After a night in the emergency room, doctors concluded her hip was badly bruised but not broken. Perhaps her early years as a dancer helped.

I drew three big lessons from this. One is that family and friends of seniors who host them in their homes need to be as careful about fall prevention as Stevenson House is for its seniors. My dining room rug now lives in the garage, and we remove smaller rugs when Mom visits.

Another is that someone who uses a cane should not carry things in both hands. My mother now uses a walker, which provides more stability than her cane did. But she still believes she can go short distances with both hands full. So a third lesson for me is vigilance—making sure Mom always has one hand free for holding on to a cane or something solid.

None of us can protect against every threat to balance, but some precautions are easy. The Center of Healthy Aging has some handy checklists and other resources.

Do you have your own tips or stories to share?

Jane L. David is the daughter of a Stevenson House senior resident and a long-time resident of Midtown. She is slowly retiring from a career as an education researcher.