Nottingham City Primary Care Trust (PCT) and a range of other agencies are joining forces on Tuesday 24th June 2008 for Help the Aged’s National Falls Awareness Day.
Colleagues from the PCT’s Falls Prevention Service, Age Concern Nottingham & Nottinghamshire, Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, Preventative Adaptations for Older People, Help the Aged, Nottingham City PCT Health Promotion Service, Nottingham Elders Forum and other local organisations will be in the Old Market Square from 10am to 2pm to give information, advice and ‘freebies’ to help reduce the number of falls in Nottingham’s older population.
The theme of this year’s event is ‘Stepping Out’, so the professionals on hand will be encouraging older people to take advantage of the range of physical activity schemes, home safety and improvement services and health advice available in the city. There will also be two ‘chair based’ exercise classes held at 11am and 1pm.
One third of those aged 65 and over will have a fall each year, leading to physical injury and problems such as anxiety and loss of confidence.
Says Marie Ward, Falls Specialist at Nottingham City PCT: “This is an event which highlights the excellent partnership work which exists in the city. Falls are everyone’s problem; working together to engage the local community in the work we do and enabling them to access a wide range of services is key to improving the health and safety of Nottingham’s most vulnerable older people.”
Sally Garlick, Health Promotion Specialist at Nottingham City PCT says: “My role is to look at avoidable injuries in older people and it is really important that we are all working together to raise awareness of falls. This event will be very beneficial to the public, but also to the partners involved – who get to share knowledge about their services and make useful contacts for future partnership work.”
The charity Help the Aged have produced their own top tips for avoiding a fall:
· Improve your strength and balance: walking, gardening, household chores are all good exercise
· If you can, walk outside (not when it’s icy!) – the fresh air, sunshine and exercise is good for you
· Try and keep everyday items between shoulder and hip height so you don’t have to keep over-reaching or bending
· Think about which hand you use most often to do chores like dusting – swap hands when you can as this will keep both sides of your body strong and improve balance
· Think about sitting down to carry out tasks where you need good balance, like putting on socks or shoes
· When getting up in the morning, sit on the side of the bed for a minute before you stand up – wiggle your toes and “pump” your feet if you can – this will stabilise your blood pressure before you stand up
· When standing from your chair, stand still and count to five, get your balance – then move!
· Try not to rush to answer the door or telephone – they can wait!
· Where possible, remove tripping hazards like clutter from the floor or trailing flexes
· Have good lighting in your home, including the stairway – it’s easy to misjudge hazards in the dark
· Wear supportive footwear and look after your feet
· Have your eyesight checked regularly
· Do tasks little and often rather than in long bursts of activity that can be followed by tiredness and stiffness in the joints
· Eat and drink well – a little and often is better than a large meal then skipping tea
· Keep warm – if you sit for long periods and your body temperature drops just one degree, you lose a quarter of the strength in your leg muscles
