Page 27 - Preventing Falls: How to Develop Community-based Fall Prevention Programs for Older Adults
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rAISING AWArENESS ABOuT YOur PrOGrAM
– Additional state and county data may Education for older adults and their
be available from health departments, caregivers should be delivered by
local emergency services, and fire trained professionals in group settings or
departments. individually. Individual education sessions
– Data on cost of falls may be available may work better for people who are hearing
from local hospitals. or vision impaired or have special needs.
– Information about fall risk factors Group sessions provide the benefits of social
among older adults (see the web interactions. Informal group discussions that
resources at the end of this chapter). include sharing personal experiences can
reduce anxiety and increase motivation to
• Information about fall risk factors among adopt new behaviors. Group teaching saves
older adults (see the web resources at the time and helps spread the information more
end of this chapter). quickly to more people.
• Information about effective fall prevention Sessions should be tailored to the attention
interventions (see the web resources span and cognitive ability of older adults.
at the end of this chapter and the CDC Visual aids such as brochures, fact sheets,
Compendium).
and checklists that take into account older
• Tools and resources to train professional adults’ culture/language and literacy level,
staff to deliver fall prevention information will help facilitate the educational session.
tailored to their audiences (see the web
resources at the end of each chapter and Falls Prevention Awareness Day
the CDC Compendium).
Since 2008, the National Council on Aging
Public education (NCOA) has sponsored a Falls Prevention
Awareness Day in September…on the first
Public education includes talking about day of fall. This day—and season—provides
fall prevention with the general public a great opportunity for organizations to
and telling older adults how to maintain raise awareness about fall prevention and
a healthy lifestyle that reduces their risk promote their fall prevention programs.
of falling. NCOA provides information on recent fall
Choose your words carefully. prevention awareness day events and
information on how to highlight your event.
• Messages to older adults should stress For information visit: www.ncoa.org.
maintaining their independence, safety, Source: National Council on Aging
wellbeing and improved balance.
Messages that stress fall prevention or
fall injuries are not well received.
• Older adults prefer the terms “physical
activity” and “movement” to the word
“exercise.”
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