Falls Awareness Week

Falls Awareness Week (September 16 – 22) is a nationwide effort to raise awareness about preventing and reducing the risk of falls.

Our Health and Wellbeing officers and our Falls Team work with our local communities to share important information and guidance about falls prevention.

We run strength and balance programmes with groups in each of the four localities of the Trust, including Armoy Over 55s, the Carefully Yours project in Magherafelt, and Mid and East Antrim Agewell Partnership.

These are focused on educating participants about reducing their risk of falls during everyday life, using simple tips and reminders along with physical strength and balance work.

There’s also a focus on reducing social isolation for participants, fostering relationships and linking to other services.

Our Falls Prevention team is here to help anyone aged over 65 who has experienced a fall, or are at risk of falling.

It aims to enable older people to live healthy, safer lives, with increased independence, offering:

• Assessment of you and your home
• Falls prevention advice
• Referral to strength and balance exercise classes
• Referral to other services and professionals

If you would like to make a self-referral to the Falls Prevention team please contact 028 9442 4644 or email falls.prevention@northerntrust.hscni.net

For further information go to www.northerntrust.hscni.net/services/falls-prevention-service/

If you or a family member have benefited from this service before please let us know through Care Opinion.

Top tips for Falls Prevention

Bone Health

• Keep bones strong and healthy by ensuring you eat a healthy diet, rich in calcium, including milk, cheese, sardines, yoghurts etc.
• Vitamin D is necessary for the body to absorb calcium. The most important source of Vitamin D is sunlight. Vitamin D can also be found in smaller amounts in fortified breakfast cereals, margarines, eggs, meat, oily fish and cod liver oil.

Everyone should consider taking a Vitamin D supplement in the winter when there is less sunlight. If you don’t get outside much or have darker skin you should consider taking a Vitamin D supplement all year round. Ask your GP or pharmacist for advice.

• Increase your level of physical activity- if in doubt, ask for advice.
• Smoking has a damaging effect on your bones, go to www.stopsmokingni.info to get help to stop or speak to your local pharmacist.
• Too much alcohol has a damaging effect on your bones. If you are concerned about the amount of alcohol you are drinking visit www.drugandalcoholni.info or speak to your GP.

Eyecare

• If you wear glasses, clean them regularly and put them on if you get up during the night.
• Go for regular eye tests. If you notice any changes in your vision, don’t wait for your next eye test – go and see your optician as soon as you can.
• Check when your next eye health check is due.
• Make sure your glasses prescription is correct and consider the impact different types of glasses have on your vision.
• Do not miss eye appointments and arrange a home visit if you feel you can’t attend.
• Ensure any medication for eye health is taken and don’t stop taking without consulting with your GP.
• Be aware that if you have dementia it may affect your vision, and judging the height and depth of stairs, steps and kerbs may be difficult.

Eat well and keep hydrated

It is important to keep an eye on your appetite and try and make sure you’re eating well. It’s always better to eat something, even if it’s small snacks throughout the day instead of three main meals. Getting enough energy is important in keeping up strength and preventing falls.

As well as eating well, you should make sure you’re drinking plenty. If you don’t drink enough it’s likely that you’ll start to feel light-headed which will increase your risk of a fall. Try to drink about six to eight glasses of fluid a day.

Information and resources about falls prevention and other health and wellbeing issues are available from the Health and Wellbeing team based at Spruce House, Cushendall Road, Ballymena.

Call 028 2563 5575 or email healthandwellbeingteam@northerntrust.hscni.net for further information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19th September 2024