Hearing that your elderly family member has experienced a fall is terrifying. Do you know what you need to do afterward to support her? This information can help you to make the right choices following a fall, including enlisting the help of 24-hour home care during recovery and beyond.
Falls and Aging Adults
When a senior falls, she’s unfortunately highly likely to experience a serious injury because of that fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that over three million aging adults are treated for falls in the ER every year. The CDC also reports that older adults who fall once are twice as likely to have another fall, and that second fall may be far more serious than the first.
Determine if She’s Injured and Alert Her Doctor
If your elderly family member does experience a fall, take a few moments to thoroughly evaluate the situation. Check for obvious injuries and try to let her get up by herself. That isn’t to be cruel, either. Letting her get up by herself allows you both to see if she’s injured more seriously than you realize. You need to get her doctor involved in the situation, just to verify that she’s truly not injured.
Look for a Cause Behind the Fall
Understanding what caused your senior’s fall is crucial, because you need to do everything you can to prevent another one. Was your senior dizzy or experiencing other health issues? Did she trip? Or was the room too dark for her to see where she was going? Get to the bottom of the situation so that you can figure out what you can do for prevention.
Do a Thorough Safety Sweep
One way to get more information is to do a thorough safety sweep of your senior’s home. This means assessing what home modifications her house needs, including grab bars, and making a list of what isn’t as safe as it could be. You may need to do this a few times to make sure you don’t miss something.
Put Solutions in Place to Prevent Future Falls
After you put together a list of safety changes your senior’s home needs, it’s time to implement them. Install those grab bars, remove loose carpeting on stairways, and increase lighting throughout the house. If having more assistance is what your elderly family member needs, sooner is far better than later.
Consider 24-hour Home Care Services
Senior care professionals understand how vital it is to keep your senior as safe as possible at home. 24-hour home care can assist your elderly family member with mobility issues, overnight concerns, and ensuring that she’s eating healthy meals consistently throughout the day. All of these tasks can help your senior to avoid another fall, while also ensuring that she’s safe and that her quality of life is as high as possible.
Helping your elderly family member to avoid a fall is a huge part of her overall care plan. As your elderly family member’s situation continues to change, update her plan to ensure that you’re accounting for all of the possibilities when it comes to preventing falls.
Source
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/prevent-falls-and-fractures
If you are considering 24-hour home care in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.
Our caregivers and staff members treat our clients, residents, and their families with the utmost respect. Our focus is to provide the highest quality of care and service with compassion and dignity.
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