Keeping your senior from falling means understanding what might make her more likely to experience a fall in the first place. It can be scary dealing with these sorts of concerns, especially if your elderly family member is determined that she’s fine.
Her Health Caused a Problem
Health issues are a major contributor to falls. If your elderly family member has blood pressure issues, blood sugar issues, or takes medications, those all create situations that can contribute to balance issues or dizziness. Talk to your senior’s doctor about what her medications and her health have to do with her ability to avoid a fall.
Your Senior’s Senses Are Working Differently
Over the years, senses change. Your senior relies on her vision and her hearing to help her to balance and to avoid problems. One way to deal with these changes is to maintain an understanding of how your senior’s senses are working at any given time. That means regular vision checks and regular hearing checks. That will help you to see what’s changing with your senior and how you can accommodate those changes.
There Are Too Many Tripping Hazards Around
Clutter, tripping hazards, and anything that might be blocking safe passage can create big problems for your senior. You might not even think about some of the items in your senior’s home as clutter or as a fall hazard. But the reality is that these items can cause her serious harm if they’re in her way at all. It’s vital to go through the house and pick up everything off the floor and remove any possible hazards.
Fear Contributed to the Fall
You might not realize this, but if your senior is afraid of falling she might be more likely to fall. The reason for this is that she’s putting herself into situations that are more likely to contribute to a fall. On the surface, she might seem as if she’s being more careful. What’s really happening is that she’s insecure about her ability to avoid a fall and she creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s far more important that she has tools that allow her to maintain her balance.
The first thing you want to do after a fall is to make sure your senior isn’t injured. After that, it’s time to put a plan in place to deal with fall prevention. Home care providers can help you to determine what’s contributing to your senior’s fall risk and they can help you to find the right solutions.
If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Laurel, MT, please contact the caring staff at SYNERGY HomeCare Billings today at 406-839-2390.
