Fall prevention should be a major concern when you are responsible for providing elder care.  To give you an idea of the scope of the problem the following are statistics supplied by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

“In 2005, 15,800 people 65 and older died from injuries related to unintentional falls; about 1,800,000 people over 65 were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries from falls, and more than 433,000 of these patients were hospitalized.

In 2000 direct medical costs totaled $19,000,000,000 for nonfatal falls and $179,000,000 for fatal falls.”

What falling meant for us was additional work.  If my father-in-law bruised himself dressing became more difficult because I had to move more slowly.  Sometimes exercise had to curtailed because he was in pain.  Getting in and out of the wheelchair and in and out of the car also became more difficult.

The odd thing was that no matter what precautions we took, he still fell.  The amazing thing is that he never injured his head.  The discouraging thing is that he never learned to take precautions himself.  He would try to move around without his walker.  When his he was in the hospital or in rehab he would get up at night to go to the bathroom.  He was supposed to call the nurse but would try to walk unaided and fell repeatedly.

This became a real issue.