Home care after fall accident for seniors

February, 2021
Home care after fall accident for seniors

With a growing age the fall becomes serious. The fall injuries remain the leading cause of hospital admissions for seniors in Canada. Around 20% to 30% of seniors are likely to have a fall accident in a year. Fall can be one of the leading causes for hip fracture. Falls are also a catalyst to transition to home care support on a regular basis.

Below are some of the precautions required after the fall to avoid any further fall incidents. The goal is to identify and reduce the risk factors which led to first occurrence of the fall. Taking below steps will help reduce the chances of multiple number of falls in future.

Appropriate Footwear: Wearing the right footwear is critical to avoid any further fall in the house. Inspect the footwear which are worn by your loved one on a regular basis. After the inspection replace all inappropriate footwear.

In Home Support: Studies have found that even after one year after the fall accident seniors have difficulty in completing the daily living activities. Your loved ones would need assistance to complete these activities on a regular basis. It is critical that you are able to provide the support your parent or elder family member needs on a daily basis. If your schedule doesn't allow you to provide the support all seven days of the week, it is important that you arrange for care services to provide the home care assistance required by your loved ones during this time of recovery.

Medication Reminder: Sometimes due to recent injury and ongoing pain seniors are not able to take medication on time. If the elderly family member is recovering from a fall incident and also taking blood pressure medication, it is very critical to take the medication on time to reduce another fall accident. A home care support care worker can help in the medication reminder on a regular basis.

home care benefits after fall accident

Adaptive Equipment: It is very important to do a complete inspection of the home after the fall accident to find the locations where the elder member of the family might need support. Some of the places where the fall accidents are common are showers, stairs and toilets.

  • Bathroom Modification: Having a shower chair or bench would help them in showering while reducing the risk of dizziness which might lead to a fall. Raising the height of the toilet seat will help them in sitting and standing while using the bathroom. Installing a shower bar also will help in getting in and out of the shower without the risk of fall.

  • Stairs: A handrail can be installed on the stairs which will assist the senior in climbing the stairs. They will provide support to the seniors and avoid getting the injury worse due to additional pressure on weak area.
    The adaptive equipments can help prevent falls in future.

  • Emergency Call Device: It is a good idea to request your elderly family member e.g parent to wear emergency call device which can put them in touch with a dispatcher immediately. There are various options available in the market some of which can even detect a fall and make a call to the dispatcher. In addition to the emergency call device it will be helpful to have phone within reach at all time.

Pre Existing Medical Condition: If your parent has a preexisting condition like diabetes or heart condition, an additional injury due to the fall accident will lead to additional pressure on your parent to manage multiple conditions on their own. Older adults with dementia or Alzheimer's will require round the clock support from family or professional caregivers. CareReq provides support to seniors who require in-home support for dementia and Alzheimer's on a regular basis.

Having the support of the spouse, adult child or caregiver is very important in the successful recovery from a fall accident. It is very difficult to care for themselves after an injury. It usually takes one to two years to completely recover from an accident. Also, type of injury related to the fall can also determine the level of support which is required on a daily basis. A hip fracture would require a significantly high level of care compared to a broken ankle due to the fall accident. It is important to determine the appropriate level of care required after the fall.

You can always reach out to CareReq, your trusted and affordable home care partner, to get home care assistance for the duration you are not able to support your parent or elderly member of your family due to your work schedule. Requesting home care via CareReq is really simple and takes only a few minutes and we guarantee affordable care for your parents.