“Me fall? That's not going to happen to me” said the young man to his granny.

His grandmother said “I'm seventy and I have not taken a fall in my whole life.”

But grandma you better start reading about your chances of taking a fall. That fall just might result in injuring yourself, in fact mom knows a woman about your age who broke her leg when she fell. She was hospitalized for weeks but she is alright now. As a result of her fall, she is making sure her home is free of trip hazards like rugs and slippery surfaces. The bathroom is where most falls happen.

If your community offers a class on personal safety for seniors it would be a wise thing to do.

There are many places and surfaces that can cause you to trip, slip or lose your balance. All these things can cause anyone to fall. Unfortunately as people age, a lot of them stop exercising, leading to muscle weakness in your legs and arms. This along with changes in our ability to maintain balance often lead to falls.

There are things you can do to make your home less likely to cause you to fail. Remove slippery, scatter rugs. Replace them with rugs that have heavy rubber backings. Make sure that doorways between rooms are flat. It is easy to catch the toe of your shoe when walking through doors with slightly raised door jams.

Make sure liquid spills are cleaned up right away as tile floors are very slippery when wet. If you are experiencing balance difficulties using a cane or walker is a wise investment to help keep you safe from falls.

Now that I have covered preventing falls in your home, we need to consider the hazards you can find outside your home. Everywhere I go these days, I am aware of things that could contribute to a fall. Sidewalks can contain trip hazards. Beware of cracked cement and raised places of cement that could cause you to fall. I was walking with my walker when I encountered a cracked sidewalk that caused me to fall forward onto the grass near a tree. A few days later I discovered I had two broken bones in my pelvis and was hospitalized for a week.

Other fall hazards include: uneven crosswalks, and if you are not watching, you could fall right into the path of a car. This could cause you severe injury! You should also watch out for potholes in your path or missing bricks in sideways. These too can cause serious falls, leading to a stay in the hospital. These kinds of falls can be financially, physically, and emotionally very expensive.

There is one device you must have: it's called a panic button or medical alert, that you can can use to call for help. Most brands have monitoring for a fee each month, otherwise they are usually free. Also, most of them detect you have fallen and call for help for you. After you fall, the medical alert device can call you after a fall and stay on the phone until help arrives.

This device is worth much more than the cost of owning it. I have been rescued several times when I had bad falls and was able to call for help by pushing a button on this device.

Your health and independence is worth more than the cost of making changes to your home to prevent this. These preventative measures can help all of us especially seniors. My motto is safety first. In the long run to make your home safer to prevent falls is well worth the cost.

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Written by Sandy Robinson