Friends spread word about fall prevention

Shirley Freund considers herself to be in pretty good shape.

But the Sun City West resident has fallen down a couple of times in the last few years. She doesn’t want it to happen again.

"I’ve taken a few falls, which kind of surprised me," she said with a laugh. "I feel that I’m in rather good health and alert, and I was surprised that I forgot there was another step to go down.

"It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s my generation now that has to be alert and prepared."

Freund’s generation — seniors — is at the greatest risk for falls and serious fall-related injuries.

According to statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Arizona Department of Health, in 2008 falls accounted for 23 percent of deaths from traumatic brain injuries, behind firearms.

Falls also accounted for 33 percent of necessary hospitalizations, second only to motor vehicle accidents. One senior will go to the hospital every 18 seconds because of fall-related injuries and those hospitalizations carry an average cost of $19,000.

In total, one-third of people ages 65 and older will fall at least once this year.

These statistics spurred Paula Segebarth, a trauma nurse at Banner Good Samaritan, Cathy Shiroda, marketing director for ResCare HomeCare and Sonja Smith, an outreach coordinator with the Brain Injury Association of Arizona, into action. The women, along with friend Capt. Lisa Jones of the Phoenix Fire Department, created in January the Friends of Fall Prevention, whose aim is educating people about the dangers and repercussions of falling.

"We thought with all our backgrounds we could put together a real nice fall prevention curriculum, and we teach to health-care professionals, directly to the community and we go all across the state," Shiroda said. "We’re here to outreach to the community, and we’re going to continue to do events to this scale several times a year so we can get a lot of people in to learn about fall prevention."

The trio had their first collaborative educational event at the Sun City West Foundation Friday morning. The event was prompted by the group’s success in getting Gov. Jan Brewer to proclaim October 2009 as Fall Prevention Awareness Month.

"We got the proclamation, went full force and decided we were going to do something big at the end of the month ... to make (people) aware of falls," Smith said. "We’d like to do one every October."

Friday’s event featured numerous organizations including the Sun City West Fire District, Foundation and other health care-related providers and organizations.

"I think awareness and education is huge because if someone doesn’t understand that it’s their issue, they’re never going to take action to change," said Kathy Brewer, a physical therapist at the Mayo Clinic who attended the event.

The representatives and women of Friends of Fall Prevention promoted safety checklists and warned of common dangers for falling. Among dangers for seniors are small dogs, rugs, extension cords, cluttered furniture and effects from medications, Segebarth said. Lack of exercise and a more sedentary lifestyle, less muscle mass, osteoporosis and increased life spans also contribute to the danger for seniors.

And with the Baby Boomer generation aging, the problem will only compound itself, Shiroda said.

"By 2020, they’re expecting that 54 million Americans will be 65 and older, so we really have to do a lot of preventative measures now to make sure younger people are exercising, eating right, taking care of their bodies, are safe in their home environment," Shiroda said. "It’s really a lifestyle change."

The Friends of Fall Prevention hopes to sponsor educational events for many different groups and is available for speaking engagements. A Web site dedicated to fall prevention and education, complete with links to a variety of information will be operational in early 2010, the group said. The site will be www.azstopfalls.org.

The group will have other events in the Northwest Valley — from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 17 and 18 at Casa Del Rio, 12751 N. Plaza Del Rio Blvd. in Peoria, and Nov. 19 at Brighton Gardens in Sun City.

For information about the Friends of Fall Prevention, contact Cathy Shiroda at 623-434-8432 or cshiroda@rescare.com.