June is National Safety Month

In 1996, the National Safety Council (NSC) established June as National Safety Month with the goal of increasing public awareness of the leading safety risks and decreasing the number of accidental injuries and deaths at homes and the workplace.

For our older loved ones, even the most ordinary accidents can have serious consequences, and the risk of such accidents increases as we age. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one out of every three individuals age 65 and older will suffer a fall each year — and one in five of those falls will result in a serious injury such as a head injury or broken bones.

Even if a fall doesn't result in immediate injury, there can be further complications as the fear of falling again can lead an older person to become less active and healthy and less engaged with the world around them. 

Falls will always be a serious concern for our older loved ones.

Along with falls, other home-based safety risks for older adults include heat exhaustion (particularly in our Texas heat), choking (the second leading cause of unintentional injury death in those 87 and older) and accidental ingestion of toxic substances (including prescription medications and painkillers).

Please click on the links below for more information — and also download the Family Caregivers Home Safety Risks and Prevention information sheet. You can use that information sheet to start a room-by-room assessment of your older loved one's home to eliminate obvious risks like cords strung across walkways, slippery surfaces and dim lighting, and to consider which transfer areas and level changes might be improved with grab bars or ramps.

If you’d like help with this assessment, please call the compassionate caregivers at Overture to schedule a free consultation. We are available 24/7 at 817-887-9401 and we’re looking forward to helping you and your older loved ones this National Safety Month.

LINKS:

The National Safety Council
https://www.nsc.org/

CDC Facts About Falls Information Page
https://www.cdc.gov/falls/facts.html

Family Caregivers Home Safety Risks and Prevention Information Sheet
Family Caregiver Home Safety Risks and Prevention PDF