Did you know that among older adults, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths, unintentional injury, and hospital admissions for trauma?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

One in four Americans age 65+ fall each year.

Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall; every 19 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall.

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of non-fatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults.

Falls result in more than 2.8 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 27,000 deaths.

In 2015, the total cost of fall injuries was $50 billion.  Medicare and Medicaid shouldered 75% of these costs.

The financial toll for older adult falls is expected to increase as the population ages and may reach $67.7 billion by 2020.

Falls, with or without injury, also carry a heavy quality of life impact. A growing number of older adults fear falling and, as a result, limit their activities and social engagements. This can result in further physical decline, depression, social isolation, and feelings of helplessness.

To recognize this critical issue, the Senior Center has several evidence based programs that can help people at any age be more stable and less fearful of falling. When the senior center re-opens we will repost the continuance of these classes. Until then, we will hand out some information to help make your home fall free and safe.

For more information about our evidence based programs or other resources to assist with fall prevention, please call our Senior Center at 336-246-4347.