Falls Prevention
Stay Up, Keep Up!
Falls reduce quality of life for our seniors, impacting their mobility, health and independence.
Fall also cost the Ontario healthcare system billions of dollars, resulting in avoidable visits to the Emergency Department, hospitalizations, high Alternate Level of Care rates, and all too often, admission to long-term care homes.
In the fiscal year 2009: - 50% of injury-related hospitalizations were due to falls
- >90% of all hip fractures are due to falls
- 55 per 1,000 seniors visited the ED due to a fall
- 13 per 1,000 seniors were hospitalized due to a fall.
Falls are a leading cause of injury and death among seniors. And yet, most falls are avoidable with proper education, awareness, screening, assessment, intervention and prevention. To address this, Ontario’s Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and Public Health Units partnered to develop an Integrated Provincial Falls Prevention Framework & Toolkit to improve quality of life for Ontario seniors aged 65 years and over, and to lessen the impact of falls on the health care system by reducing the number and impact of falls. This project aligns with government and LHIN priorities to reduce Alternate Level of Care and Emergency Department wait times as well as the province’s Excellent Care for All Act and public health’s Injury Prevention and Healthy Communities strategies. Many organizations are already doing great work to reduce falls among seniors. This framework and toolkit pulls together leading practices, programs and resources to create a coordinated, consistent approach to measure the effectiveness of falls prevention interventions across the province.
The Champlain LHIN, in partnership with the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, will be implementing a LHIN-wide Integrated Falls Prevention Program, with flexibility to ensure local needs are addressed appropriately.
We have shared the Integrated Provincial Falls Prevention Framework & Toolkit with our stakeholders and will be working with them to implement the key actions outlined in this report.
For more information on Falls Prevention, please contact Robyn Hurtubise at rhurtubise@eohu.ca or 613-933-1375 extension 235.
Backgrounder: Integrated Provincial Falls Prevention Project
Integrated Provincial Falls Prevention Framework & Toolkit
Q & A: Integrated Provincial Falls Prevention Project
To order the following resources, call 613-933-1375 or 1 800 267-7120 and ask for the Health Line.
Public Health Agency of Canada
Seniors and Aging - Preventing Falls in and Around your Home
Step Forward with Confidence - It Is a Matter of Choice
Veterans Affairs Canada
You Can Prevent Falls! Fall Prevention Information for Veterans and Seniors
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