What Should Your Senior Parent Do If They Fall?
Senior Care Havertown PA
Falls are one of the greatest risks that your senior loved one faces during their later years. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 percent of the older adult population throughout the United States suffers a fall each year. This is one out of every five adults over the age of 64. As a family caregiver, it is important that you not only give your parent the care and support needed to reduce the risk that they will experience a fall, but also that you give them the knowledge and skills to handle such a potentially dangerous situation if it happens. This can help to minimize the danger of serious injury following a fall.
Encourage your parent to use these tips if they suffer a fall:
• Do not move immediately. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time for the body to register an injury. This means that your senior loved one might feel that they are fine after they fall, but then realize later that they have actually been hurt. If they move too quickly they could worsen the damage or lead to another fall. No matter how minor the fall, they should wait for a few moments before moving.
• Evaluate their condition. While your parent is waiting to move, they should evaluate their body and detect any pain, stiffness, or other sensations that they are experiencing. If they are able to move, they should continue to evaluate how they are feeling as they stand and start moving again.
• Use support to stand. Even if they feel that they have not experienced any injuries, your parent should use some sort of support and assistance to stand. This can mean allowing you or a care provider to help them or crawling to a chair, step, or stable table to help them get up.
• Call for help. If they feel that they are injured in any way or do not feel right in the time following their fall, they should alert their doctor or call for emergency services. A brain injury or even a broken bone might not seem serious when it first happens, so your parent should never underestimate any symptoms that they have after falling.
If you are concerned about your senior parent’s fall risk and have been looking for ways to help them stay safer and more secure throughout their later years, starting senior care for them may be the ideal option. A senior care services provider can be with your elderly loved one on a schedule that is customized specifically for them and for the amount of care and assistance that they need.
This means that the care provider will take into consideration not just your senior’s needs, challenges, and limitations, but also the care that you give to them, their personality, and their lifestyle goals. Through these highly personalized services, this care provider can ensure that your elderly loved one gets the level of care that they need, and the quality of life that they deserve.
When it comes to helping them to reduce their fall risk, this senior home care services provider can help them to identify and abate potential dangers throughout their home, give them physical support and assistance with their personal care tasks, and even encourage them to stay more active and eat a healthier diet to keep their body stronger and more resilient.
Sources: https://www.ncoa.org/news/resources-for-reporters/get-the-facts/falls-prevention-facts/
https://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/falls/adultfalls.html
If you or an aging loved one are considering Senior Care Services in Havertown PA, please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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