Falls Prevention & Reduction Champion's Toolkit

INTRODUCTION

Falls in individuals over the age of 65 are increasingly recognized as a serious health issue. Falls are a problem for the older adults whether they are living at home, in assisted living or at a care center. And because fall risk factors are numerous and vary from individual to individual addressing the issue is challenging.

Aging Services of Minnesota's Fall Prevention and Reduction Initiative is aimed at preventing falls and fall related injuries and recognizes the importance of placing a strong focus on supporting care givers and promoting resident choice. The support provides learning resources and a network for "falls champions" to assist in identifying not only the level of risk a person may be at but what the risk is in order to reduce the number of falls.

The Fall Prevention and Reduction Initiative is based on research findings which reveal that a combination of fall risk assessment, an education campaign, management and effective implementation of interventions reduces fractures and other injuries from falls among the elderly while dramatically improving the quality of life.

Health care providers who incorporate outcome-based practices find that the elderly will experience less discomfort and disability which will have a dramatic impact on quality of life and reduced health care costs.

The Falls Prevention & Reduction Champion's Toolkit and resources
are provided for easy access in one location for the designated Fall Prevention Champion in one location. This Toolkit and its content will periodically evolve overtime with feedback from the users, new research findings and new practices.

Questions or feedback, contact:esether@agingservicesmn.org.

The Falls Prevention Champion's Toolkit and resources are provided for the Falls Champion in one location:

• Information About Falls

• Critical Components

• Prevention

• Strengthening

• Post Fall Action

• Education Handouts

• Resource Web Sites

• Active Participation In a Cause

• Criteria for a Falls Champion Program

• Fall Rate Calculations

NEWS

Stay tuned!