Falls aren’t just a Camden problem. Nationally, one in three seniors falls every year and falls are the leading cause of injury death for people 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The costs are staggering. In 2000, direct medical costs of falls totaled more than $19 billion, said the CDC, which is encouraging groups to create programs nationwide.
Hospitals from Virtua in South Jersey to Holy Redeemer Health System in Meadowbrook have efforts to help prevent falls as does Bayada Nurses, a home health agency. Chester and Montgomery Counties both have state-funded fall prevention efforts.
But Camden providers are armed with detailed data on falls, including citywide statistics that many other regions don’t have. And local providers, including the city’s biggest hospital, are using the knowledge to battle against falls – and their costs. “It’s not only identifying risk factors for [people who have fallen],” said Kathleen Devine, Cooper University Hospital’s senior director for emergency and trauma services. “It’s actually connecting them to resources in the community.”
Most falls in older adults are caused by a combination of inherent risk factors – poor balance and gait, medication side effects, limited vision – and environmental factors, such as a wet floor or an unsecured throw rug, said Roberta Newton, a noted fall expert and a physical therapy professor at Temple University. “Most often, it’s when the older adult performs the routine activities of daily living” that falls occur, she said.
