Guest column by Jordan Bowman | HealthPRO Heritage

Did you know? Falls account for more than eight million hospital emergency room visits each year. They are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries for older Americans and threaten seniors’ safety and independence and generate enormous economic and personal costs.

• However, falling is not an inevitable result of aging. Through practical lifestyle adjustments, evidence-based falls prevention programs and clinical-community partnerships, the number of falls among seniors can be substantially reduced.

Pledge Partner Spotlight: The goal of the HealthPRO Heritage fall prevention program, Defying Gravity, is to ensure that older adults attain and maintain the highest level of motor control to ensure good balance and mitigate the risk of falls.

Zooming in: According to the CDC and other falls research:

• More than one out of four Americans age 65+ falls each year.
• The cost of treating injuries caused by falls is projected to increase to over $101 billion by 2030.
• Falls result in more than 3 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations.
• In 2015, the total cost of non-fatal fall injuries was $50 billion.
• Each year about $754 million is spent on medical costs related to fatal falls.
• For older adults in the U.S., fall death rates went up by 30 percent from 2007-2016, and researchers predict there will be seven deadly falls every hour by 2030.
• People with mild hearing loss are nearly three times as likely to fall, with each 10 decibels of hearing loss increasing falls risk.

The HealthPRO Heritage Defying Gravity Falls/Balance Program supports the resident and ancillary health professionals to identify factors that affect functional performance and strategies to reduce falls.

• This approach utilizes standardized measures to target clinical indicators, focuses on the nuances of treating these indicators, and has shown that facilities with the Defying Gravity program saw 28.5 percent less falls per 1000 occupied beds than non HealthPRO Heritage facilities.

When assessing a fall prevention program be sure to consider how well the program provides a cross disciplinary approach, focuses on the core concepts of functional balance, uses evidence-based standardized outcome tools to identify potential risk factors, validates and assists in benchmarking for CMS quality measures and can be led by non-healthcare professionals.

For information on Defying Gravity or other health and wellness solutions, please visit healthpro-heritage.com.

About the author: Jordan Bowman of HealthPRO Heritage began her healthcare career as a speech language pathologist and now helps senior living facilities with rehabilitation therapy solutions.

• She can be reached at bowman@healtpro-heritage.com or (614) 370-7395.

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