LIFE ElderCare Fall Prevention

LIFE ElderCare’s
Fall Prevention
Program

Maureen Parent, California Wellness Foundation LIFE ElderCare, Inc.
Fall Prevention Coordinator April 18, 2011 www.lifeeldercare.org

Fall risk to senior health
 35% of people 65+ fall each year
 Every 18 seconds someone 60+ is taken to the ER
for a fall [16% of all ER visits]
 #1 reason for entry into long-term care facilities
 Leading cause of injury death in older adults –
every 35 minutes
 Over 1.3 million older Californians fall each year…
many sustain hip fractures, head injury or death


Falls can be prevented
 Over 44 million baby boomers live at home with
an elderly or sick parent
 Another 25 million at-risk elderly live alone and
are unprotected from devastating falls
 Research shows that an individualized, multi-
factorial fall prevention program is the best
approach to fall risk reduction


Goal: Reduce falls, improve quality of life

 Evidence-based program for frail, homebound seniors:
 We work with the 60% at greatest risk for a fall and the
people who are most costly for the community to care for.
 Those who are often precluded from participating in other
programs due to co-morbidities or serious medical conditions.
 Average age is 88, the oldest client was 100.

Holistic, individualized program, addressing each
of the clients needs in:
 Balance & Gait
 Environment
 Medications


Exercise is key
 Exercise has a positive impact far beyond the
physical, especially for the elderly:

 Delay of dementia and Alzheimer's
 Improved brain function, far more than Sudoku
 Improved longevity
 Parkinson's: 14 additional months of independent living
Sometimes just holding the line is true success for a client
based on their numerous conditions, declining health and
advancing age.


Benefit of a Certified Fitness Trainer

 Assesses balance, gait, posture and
muscle strength

 Identified risk factors form the basis
of an individualized exercise
program

 The routine is sent to the
participant’s primary care physician
for approval


Unitek College, Department of Nursing

 Unitek College partners since
program inception in 2005

 Seven years of uninterrupted service

 Licensed Vocational nursing program

 LVN to RN program


 1,589 nursing students trained in Fall
Prevention, home health and geriatric
care
Students gain valuable experience in
geriatric care and we are able to offer
high quality care, free of charge, to
the seniors.

 2,092 seniors served
 36,044 hours of service
 Average cost of unending care per
senior: $500


Intake Evaluation
 Medical history

 Medications

 Activities of Daily Living [ADL’s/IADL’s]

 Subjective survey of clients perceived
strength, agility, confidence to stop a fall

 History of falls
 MMSE – Folstein Mini-Mental

 Geriatric Mood Score


High Quality Follow-Up
One hour, weekly exercise appointments include:
 Significant medical event(s) since the previous visit

 Edema or unusual physical changes such as fatigue or confusion

 Fall(s): cause and severity

 Compliance with medical condition self-care such as diabetes and high
blood pressure
 Blood pressure pre/post workouts

 Frequency of workouts

 Establishment and adherence to personal healthy living goals


Educating Nurses about
Falls
Education on the prevention of falls and fall injuries should be
included in nursing curricula and on-going education with specific
attention to:

 Promoting safe mobility

 Risk assessment

 Multidisciplinary strategies

 Risk management including post-fall follow-up”
Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, 2005


Education on Healthy Living
 How to get up from a fall

 Dehydration

 Vitamin D

 Educate about community resources

 Establish and motive to achieve compelling goals

 Ensure client safety through training, motivation
and physical strengthening
 Provides companionship, comfort and reassurance


Home Modification

 Unitek LVN students complete simple forms to
assess client’s home for possible fall safety
hazards
 LIFE ElderCare provides minor modifications


Medication Management
 Touro University, School of Pharmacy
 Unitek LVN students search database for
interactions of client’s drugs
 In-home teaching of pharmacist’s medication
review
 Complete medication list provided to client, to
take to doctor and pharmacy visits
 List of client medications shared with PCP


Continuum of Care
Unitek Registered Nursing students
Integral aspect of never ending care: Sustainability
 Complete physical, psycho-social and environmental
work-up
 Review key issues and concerns
 Devise a care plan
 Help client to set motivating goals
 Supervise exercise workouts
 Educate on pharmacist provided medication review
 Educate on conditions and community resources


Fall Prevention Works
Stanford University, Business School Alumni

Risk of Falling (Berg & Tinetti Assessment of Balance/Gait
Test)

58%

41%
32% Pre-Program
29% 27% Post-Program

13%

High Risk Moderate Risk Low Risk


Program Results
Post Program: Noticeable or Vast Improvements

%
Balance

d, 72
Strength
Flexibility

, 65%

Moo
3%

%
Energy

63
gy, 6
ngth
Stamina

58%

fall,
Mobility

55%
%

Ener
Stre
5%

nt a
y, 55
Mood

ility,
e, 5

ina,
Ability to prevent a fall

e
Mob
ibilit

prev
anc

Stam
Bal

Flex

ty to
Maureen Parent, California Wellness Foundation Abili
LIFE ElderCare, Inc.

Dissemination
 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services –
Quality Improvement organizations in PA & CA

 Home Health Quality Improvement: “Best Practices in Fall
Prevention”

 Alameda County, Afghan Coalition Health Promoters
adopted this program

 California: Contra Costa County MOW group – adopted this
program. Launch June 2012


Partnerships are
THE key to our success
 The success of the program is dependent on our
partners… each contributing their strengths,
knowledge and expertise to benefit frail, at-risk
seniors

 Without our partners we would be unable to deliver
this highly effective, much-loved program

 One final partner. . .


Mary Anderson
 The woman who brought the Fall Prevention concept to
LIFE ElderCare

 Hired me, became my E.D. and my friend

“You don’t give back to the same people who give to you.
Not at all. You give to different people and they in turn will give
to someone entirely different. Not you. That’s the sloppy
economy of gift and love.”

Lorrie Moore Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?


 Maureen Parent
 510-673-7594
 mparent@lifeelderc.hostpilot.com

 LIFE ElderCare website
 www.lifeeldercare.org


LIFE ElderCare Fall Prevention

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