National Falls Prevention Awareness Day is September 23. Help educate the public about OT's role in preventing falls.
Falls Prevention Awareness Day will be celebrated on September 23rd this year! This national initiative is a great opportunity for occupational therapy practitioners to educate the public about the role of occupational therapy in falls prevention and to promote and increase public awareness about how to prevent and reduce falls among older adults.
The National Council on Aging's (NCOA's) Center for Healthy Aging Web site for Falls Prevention Awareness Day 2011 has a variety of tools and resources for states and communities to use to promote falls prevention.
NCOA reports that plans are already underway in more than half the states to promote falls prevention in conjunction with National Falls Prevention Awareness Day. Those states include AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, WA, and WI. Their compendium of state fall prevention initiatives State Coalitions on Fall Prevention: Working Collaboratively to Make a Difference, is continually updated.
AOTA's Web site has helpful resources that you can download including
The AOTA Web site also has a series of podcasts on a variety of topics including
So mark the start of fall with a Falls Prevention Awareness activity in your community or even in your workplace, and share your stories about it on OT Connections.
Resources
Online Course: Falls Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Overview, Evaluation, and Assessments
Online Course: Falls Sustained Among Older Adults in the Hospital Setting
Understanding the Role of Occupational Therapy in Fall Prevention for Community-Dwelling Older Adults (Members)
AGS Clinical Practice Guideline: Prevention of Falls in Older Persons (2010) (American Geriatrics Society)
AOTA/CDC Falls Prevention Project
