The Bottom Line: Every Fire Department Needs Older Adult Fall Prevention Outreach

By Chief Dennis Compton
February 2005

Most fire safety educators are well aware that the risk of home fire death rises steadily as we age. In response, many educators make it a top priority to reach out to this group with smoke alarm installation programs and fire prevention education.

That’s a smart policy for any community, and I applaud it. But fire safety education alone isn’t adequate to effectively protect the aging population from home injury. To be successful in reaching the growing senior population in our country, every fire department needs to incorporate proactive fall-prevention education into their older adult outreach efforts.

Falls lead home-injury deaths

According to the Home Safety Council’s State of Home Safety in America 2004 Report, older adults experience the highest rate of unintentional home injury death among all age groups. Falls are by far the leading cause of home injury, resulting in nearly 6,000 deaths each year on average. Alarmingly, nearly 5,000 of these 6,000 deaths occur to people age 65 and older. For this age group, falls are the leading cause of home injury death, followed by fires and burns.

While these important data may not be widely known in many fire departments, even less likely is a solid understanding of the interventions that are lacking in the homes of seniors. The State of Home Safety report documented that one-third of all households with stairs do not have banisters or handrails. And only nineteen percent of U.S. households have grab bars in tubs or showers. These are just two factors that contribute to the 5.1 million nonfatal home fall injuries that occur on average each year.

An injury from a fall at home can be devastating. In addition to painful and expensive medical consequences, a fall can have a detrimental effect on an older person’s confidence and independence long after the injury heals. Too often, a serious fall can be the first domino in a line of medical problems that lead to full-time nursing care or even a move into a supervised facility.

I have personal experience dealing with this issue, not only in my family life but from many years of responding to emergency calls in the fire department. My mother suffered a serious fall in her home when she was 75 years old. It was debilitating for her, and probably quickened her death by several years. As a firefighter, I responded to many elderly people who had fallen…usually in their home…and almost always, they were not only injured, but also frightened. Often, they lay helpless on the ground for hours (or even days) before being discovered. We can help prevent many of these falls through our education programs with seniors and their caregivers.

Preventing falls at home is not complicated. To be effective in our communities we need to think strategically and narrow our educational focus. Here’s a simplified approach to help you get started:

• Identify your audience (include older adults and their family and caregivers)
• Understand and be able to articulate the home hazards that can lead to falls (such as darkened hallways, wet or slippery floors, and stairways without handrails)
• Point out the steps needed to reduce falls (simple corrections such as keeping floors clean and dry, and installation of bright lighting and grab bars)
• Encourage the audience to keep their doctors informed of all of the medications they take, both over the counter and prescription. Mixing certain medications can cause dizziness and result in serious fall injuries.

Once you’ve identified your audience, you’ll need an effective teaching instrument to communicate about the hazards that can lead to falls and the steps needed to correct or eliminate them in the homes of older adults in your community.

Free fall prevention educational tools

To help first responders and public health experts reach older adults with fall-prevention messages, the Home Safety Council has developed two new, free educational tools. Safe Steps is a comprehensive video produced in partnership with Lifetime Learning Systems. The video provides an upbeat overview of active seniors who take the necessary steps to make their home safer from falls.

While supplies last, the Home Safety Council will provide every member of the Expert Network with a free copy of Safe Steps for his or her community.

These exciting new teaching aids will help you educate older adults in your community, increasing the likelihood that they can stay safer at home, longer. If you haven’t yet joined the Expert Network, sign up now so you can include Safe Steps in your educational outreach.

Local action items

You don’t have to shoulder a fall-prevention program alone. Team up with an agency working on behalf of seniors in your community. Coordinate a joint educational presentation where seniors as well as family members and caregivers can watch Safe Steps together. If you don’t know of an agency, search on the Administration on Aging Web site to find state and local agencies in your area.

Learn more about protecting older adults by visiting the National Council on the Aging Web site and the Home Safety Council’s fall-prevention safety guide.