Free home safety assessments are being offered to seniors this week as part of fall prevention week. The majority of accidental deaths among seniors aged 75 and older result from falls. Nurse Next Door is offering the assessments. In 2010, the direct medical cost of senior falls in North America was $30 billion. One in three people over the age of 65 fall each year and 85 per cent of injury-related hospital admissions in seniors are the result of falls. Also notable is that 90 percent of hip fractures are the result of falls and 20 percent of seniors who suffer a hip fracture from a fall die within one year.

Nurse Next Door’s Fall Prevention Program sends staff trained in fall prevention into local homes to conduct free home safety assessments for seniors with the aim to educate and help families make their homes safer for seniors.

“We are making the lives of local seniors safer by checking their homes for common fall hazards,” says Carol Lange, owner of Nurse Next Door in Maple Ridge. “Our goal is to offer this free program to 100 seniors in our community and ensure that none of these individuals end up in the hospital this winter due to a preventable fall.”

Common causes for falls include area or scatter rugs, improper footwear, lack of grab bars or hand rails, poor lighting, pet toys, dishes, and other animal related items, and a lack of rubber mats in bath tubs

“Our home safety assessment allows us to show seniors how to make their homes safer by minimizing risks,” said Lange. “We’re urging seniors and their families to call us early to book their free fall safety assessment.”

Nurse Next Door’s local Fall Prevention Week is part of a national program that will be running in communities across Canada and the United States. The program, now in its eighth year, has already reached hundreds of seniors across the country. Seniors can call 604-468-2273 to set up their free in-home assessment.