An older adult is likely to experience a fall for many reasons. If you think of a fall as an interaction between the physical environment and certain characteristics of an individual, it's a great way to frame fall risk. Fall risk can come from the environment--the physical environment you live in (your home for example)--both the inside and the outside of the home, as well as fall risks, can emanate from the characteristics of the individual themselves. What I mean by that are things like your physical health and well-being, your overall strength and mobility, your medications, which is a significant factor...
Falls can be very detrimental to an older adult especially in terms of their quality of life and
overall function. The environment can produce a fall risk for an older adult. What I mean by that is not only the physical environment of your home, but the outside environment as well. Let's talk about your home. Your home can be a fall risk whether you even realize it or not. Things such as lighting, furniture, throw rugs--things of that nature can absolutely contribute to your fall risk.
Lighting...
As we age, our vision is somewhat compromised. This doesn't happen overnight, but over time we have a greater need for light. We also have an exaggerated response to glare. So when we think of our environment in our home or even outside, are there times when there's not adequate light for you to see a potential fall hazard in your pathway? That can be overcome of course by night lights and motion sensor lights to create a safer pathway in your home that's better lit.
Let's talk about glare.
When you go outside on a sunny day from your somewhat semi-darkened home, you may experience exaggerated glare that can be somewhat disabling in terms of throwing you off balance. So be sure that you're mindful of changes in light and have a good pair of sunglasses on when you go outside and certainly if you have vision disorders. We know that planning for those light changes in your environment are additionally important to reduce your fall risk.
What other factors about your home can be a fall risk?
The environment in terms of the furniture and the clutter. If furniture is not helping you to get up and out of it, it could be producing a fall risk. What do I mean by that? If you don't have a good sturdy chair with proper arm rests and a solid cushion to help boost you to a standing position, it could actually be contributing to a fall risk. We know that sometimes people like to have throw pillows, throw rugs like that around their home for decoration. While those throw things really in some ways should be thrown out. Now of course I don't mean that literally but those kinds of things can contribute to fall risks because a throw pillow may inadvertently fall onto the floor. A throw rug the corner of it may turn up and cause your foot to get caught and contribute to you tripping and therefore falling and potentially injuring yourself.
Let's talk about clutter.
Clutter is a significant concern for a couple of reasons. Number one, the clutter could make the path difficult to navigate. Let's say again, you're trying to walk from your living room to your bathroom or your living room to your kitchen, and if there's too much clutter, you may inadvertently trip over that. Also, it just makes it much more challenging for you to navigate versus having a straight, clear pathway. So cleaning up clutter is very, very important. A few other features about the environment that come into play could be things like pets. Now, we love our pets. I would never suggest that you get rid of your pet, but be mindful that your pet can contribute to you falling as well.
But let's also think about the outdoor paths. You may walk on maybe your steps are not in good repair. Maybe their concrete surface is fractured or cracked. Maybe there are uneven edges, you know some sort of slab of concrete has lifted up and caused kind of an edge for you to need to navigate over. Those are all very challenging situations. So being very careful about those external environmental features, correcting them, repairing them, if possible, and if not, having someone to help navigate you over those cracks and grooves--whether that's you know a family member, a neighbor or someone that you choose to hire. But make no doubt about it, your physical environment can contribute in a significant way to your fall risk.
BrightStar can help you with many of those things as well. Brightstar has specially trained CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistant) who are taught to be aware of home safety. In fact we even have a home safety checklist that we review with you when we begin to take care of you. Our CNAs are very alert to the environment and the fall risk that it poses to you and so they work with you to help determine and understand those environmental risks in your own home. And we also then help you, if at all possible, to reduce those risks and work with you to accomplish as safe of a home as possible.