Fall Prevention Awareness Day / Week 2014 California Activities and Outcomes From the National Council on Aging Survey

Transcription

1 Fall Prevention Awareness Day / Week 2014 California Activities and Outcomes From the National Council on Aging Survey In November 2014, 22 senior service providers, professionals, and representatives from community coalitions and Area Agencies on Aging across California completed a survey on activities they held to recognize the 7 th annual Fall Prevention Awareness Day and/or Week The results have been provided to the National Council on Aging to be incorporated into a national report on activities held throughout the country. A summary of the survey results for California is below. Name of Coalition/Organization and Website: Alameda County Senior Injury Prevention Partnership (SIPP), o Alameda County Public Health/Emergency Medical Services, Elderly Fall Prevention Coalition of Ventura County, fall.prevention.program@ventura.org o Ventura County Medical Center Fall Prevention Coalition Los Angeles (FPC-LA), o ALLPOINT Home Health, o Fall Prevention Center of Excellence, o Heart of Ida, o St. Barnabas Senior Services, Fall Prevention Program of Contra Costa County, o Meals on Wheels and Senior Outreach Services Falls Prevention Coalition of Nevada County, nevadacountyfallsprevention.com (in construction) Falls Prevention Santa Clara County Task Force, o Santa Clara County Department of Public Health o San Jose State University Healthy Aging Association, Meals on Wheels and Senior Outreach Services Fall Prevention Coalition, o Meals on Wheels and Senior Outreach Services Rebuilding Together San Francisco, SAFE- Central Valley Coalition, o Fresno State Foundation San Mateo County Fall Prevention Task Force, o San Mateo County Health System - EMS Agency o Hospital Consortium of San Mateo County Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Trauma Services

2 o Cottage Health System Sonoma County Area Agency on Aging, StopFalls Napa Valley, o Area Agency on Aging Napa Solano What was the length of your 2014 Falls Prevention Awareness Day observance? 24% Week 38% Day 38% Month 14% Other Nineteen respondents (95%) conducted the following awareness and education activities as part of their Fall Prevention Awareness 2014 efforts: Wrote and distributed a press release 9 Held a press conference 0 Provided falls prevention presentations/lectures/webinars 16 Distributed falls prevention information 18 Participated in health fair 14 Public education campaign e.g. PSA, newspaper article 8 Other (please describe): 10 Shared with friends, family, others regarding this day and it's importance to so many Interviews on local radio stations Received proclamations from 6 cities and Santa Clara County Proclamation to BOS Did outreach to AC AAA, AC Public Health, Created U-Tube Video, AC Website, SIPP Coalition Board of Supervisors Proclamation Facebook page update Proclamations at County and cities Social media postings Fall risk assessments Fourteen respondents (70%) kicked off the following evidence-based programs as part of their Fall Prevention Awareness 2014 efforts: A Matter of Balance 8 Tai Chi: Moving for Better Balance 7 Tai Chi (other) 4 Stepping On 4 Otago 0 Other (please describe): 9 Promoted all that I had checked and more... understand how important this matter is Young at Heart Group Fitness Comprehensive Balance Screening The Art of Moving; Strong Bones, QiGong FallProof 2

3 Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program - Walk With Ease Exercise with stretch bands Walk with Ease STEADI Fall Risk Screen Seventeen respondents (85%) conducted the following fall risk screenings as part of their Fall Prevention Awareness 2014 efforts: Balance screening 16 Vision screening 5 Medications screening 8 Multifactorial screening (multiple risk factors screened) 8 Other: Fitness, Physical and Occupational Therapy 2 Twelve respondents (58%) conducted the following advocacy activities as part of their Falls Prevention Awareness 2014 efforts: Governor s proclamation 0 Local proclamation(s) 9 Met with elected officials 6 Conducted evidence-based falls prevention demonstration or educational session for elected officials 1 Other: Signed letter of support from Director of State Department of Aging, presented to City Council in televised meeting Provided campaigning candidates for local office fall prevention advocacy information 3 and secured support Respondents secured sponsorships and partnerships with the following: Newspapers and other media/publications County Board of Supervisors County EMS Departments Ambulance transport agencies Camarillo Health Care District Departments of Adult and Aging Services HealthWise Heart of Ida, Long Beach Home care and health agencies Independent and assisted living communities Kaiser Permanente Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association Local businesses Local chiropractor Local church Local Senior I&A Mayor of Pleasant Hill Medical care providers Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood services Pleasant Valley Park & Recreation District Public Health Departments SCAN Health Plan Senior centers Senior living village movement Senior Nutrition Program Services SIPP Coalition Members Universities USOAC Advocacy groups 3

4 Eleven respondents (55%) engaged the following professional students: Physical Therapy Occupational Therapy Pharmacy Nursing Kinesiology EMS Corps High School Students from a local tech program In the following ways: They conducted and assisted with screenings (e.g., balance, fitness, blood pressure, fall risk, and grip test) Attended health fairs Conducted educational workshops Engaged people in discussion about risk for falls, exercise, balance, and medications Nursing students provided blood pressure checks, assisted with home safety checks, and fall prevention education Pharmacy students assisted with medication management review for side effects that increase risk of falls EMS Corps took blood pressure and demonstrated balance activities Important outcomes of respondents Falls Prevention Awareness 2014 activities: All of the seniors who attended the balance screening were recommended an intervention and about half of them were able to participate in a home visit by the nursing students. Bringing increased overall awareness to our county residents about fall prevention awareness week and emphasizing that many falls can be prevented. Diversity of ideas and activities; programs with bilingual materials and translation availability (Spanish and Chinese). Empowering seniors with information (checklist) home safe activities, and what to ask their Primary Care Providers - re: preventing falls. Empowering 30 people to take responsibility for their safety. Increasing awareness and providing high quality information regarding falls prevention. More participants joined the Young at Heart group fitness classes. Nearly half of the seniors in attendance went to the exercise class and learned how to use stretch bands. Number of people reached with volunteers and grant funded Health Educator. Partnership with City Health Department. People intended on using the information provided at presentations. People who were not aware of the enormity of the issue were educated. Providing the opportunity for professionals across the state to network and form new partnerships, as well as learn from others. Recognition of the work we are doing. Continuing to attract attendees to our annual event (this was our 7th one) and that it has an impact (on our evaluation we ask if people have come previously and, if they had, 4

5 what they did to reduce their risk; of those who completed the evaluation, 27 had come before). Completing fall risk assessments for 40 seniors and had a successful fundraiser which will allow us to install assistive devices for low income seniors. Ability to provide information in multiple languages. Seniors left aware of their risk and how they could prevent falls. Respondents Fall Prevention Awareness 2014 efforts directly and indirectly reached an estimated 80,620+ Californians! Challenges and Lessons Learned: Creating adequate time for seniors to spend with vendors; provide appropriate intermission for more interactions. Difficulty of getting the events promoted in the community. Finding the best venue is an on-going challenge. Funding for the event is a challenge. We are considering charging a token amount ($5) for the event or for the lunch...also may help with "no-shows.". Holding a bilingual forum will be beneficial; such a forum is being worked on. It s difficult to get the media interested. Need a higher profile (at the National level). Manpower to meet all requests for education. Need to focus more on media outreach i.e. PRs, PSA's, city and state proclamations, publishing articles; we need someone in the coalition to head up this piece. Parking at our event was a major issue. Seniors are resistant to talking about falls, need to find better ways to get conversations started. Start planning earlier next year. Successful marketing of fall prevention programs is my biggest challenge. It takes collaborative efforts to get the word out. Unable to coordinate our fundraiser because of a lack of capacity, we are looking into hiring a staff person to assist. To start planning for Fall Prevention Awareness Week and Day 2015, visit the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence s website at: and the National Council on Aging s website at: 5