Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106006

Marjorie Getz, PhD (c), Psychology, Bradley University, 1501 W Bradley Avenue, Peoria, IL 61625, 309-677-2587, mgetz@bradley.edu and M. Barbara Campbell, Marketing, Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 6501 N. Sheridan Road, Peoria, IL 61614.

Approximately 25% of persons over age 65 fall each year with 15% sustaining serious injuries. For 12 years, the Community Fall Prevention Program has worked to identify those at risk for falling and made environmental changes to reduce this risk in the homes of 1600 people. There are two program components. Lectures are presented to groups of persons (over age 60) who live in elderly housing units or in the community. Various community groups are solicited for these presentations. This allows the Community Fall Prevention Program to be responsive to the needs of diverse subgroups of persons. For example, a presentation could be made to a group of older adults at a library in one of the rural communities in the 6-county service area for this program. A presentation could be made at an African-American church located in an economically challenged area. The second component is direct service. Persons who are discharged from local hospitals or rehabilitation facilities are identified. Names (with patient consent) are provided to the Community Fall Prevention Program Coordinator and a home visit is scheduled. During the home visit, the home environment is examined to determine areas that may pose risk for falling. Safety equipment (for example, bathtub grab bars) is installed at no cost to the service recipient. Working with public health students from a local university, an evaluation mechanism that assesses how well this program has reduced incidence of falls and improved the quality of life for program participants was developed and implemented.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of the session, participants will better understand the importance of fall prevention as a community health problem; know about needs assessment procedures, be familiar with the development of a comprehensive approach to preventing falls in older persons and understand how to conduct a program evaluation.

Keywords: Aging, Community-Based Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.