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Tai Chi instructor, Fred Bruderlin, teaching attendees Tai Chi at the Lake Oswego Community Cetner in Oregon during an in-person Natnal Fall Prevention Awareness Day evet in 2019.
Staying Flexible: Adapting Fall Risk Programming by Jamie Caulley, PT, DPT and Colleen M Casey PhD, ANP-NP
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) promotes National Fall Prevention Awareness Day in September to coincide with the first day of fall. In 2020, the NCOA expanded the day to a full week of awareness in order to bring more attention to the national healthcare crisis of fall-related deaths and injuries in persons 65 years and older. Providence-Oregon is a large non-profit health system with 8 hospitals, 44 primary care clinics and 32 outpatient rehab clinics in the state of Oregon. For the past 5 years, Staying Healthy and On Your Feet, an in-person fall risk event, has been offered to over 1,600 community-dwelling older adults across Oregon, mostly during the month of September. These 2-hour events have included: • An educational presentation on modifiable fall risk factors taught by physical therapists (PT), and/or occupational therapists (OT), and geriatric-trained pharmacists (PharmD). • An active Tai Chi demonstration taught by a local instructor. • An optional, individual high-risk medication review with a pharmacist. It became clear by April 2020 that we would be unable to offer in-person events due to COVID-19 pandemic closures of community and senior centers, as well as capacity limitations on gatherings throughout the state. The NCOA aptly stated in 2020: “The coronavirus pan-
GeriNotes • March 2021 • Vol. 28 No. 2
demic has changed a lot of things. One thing that’s still the same? Falling is NOT a normal part of aging. There are steps you can take to reduce your risk.”1 With awareness and education on fall prevention remaining a priority for the Providence Senior Health Program, we pivoted to a virtual format. The pandemic has affected seniors and fall risk in many ways. Falls and acute functional decline are more common presenting symptoms of COVID-19 than fever in adults age 80 years and older.2 Many types of traumatic fracture decreased, while the prevalence of hip fracture has remained stable or increased during the time of the pandemic.3,4 Patients diagnosed with hip fracture during the pandemic had more fractures occur in their homes, had higher levels of fragility, lower baseline physical activity levels, and higher mortality rates than their prepandemic cohorts.5 Virtual Event Details and Logistics The number of participants did not need to be limited with a virtual event; the number of fall prevention offerings was reduced from 12 to 3. This required fewer speakers to train and coordinate with the new technology. Events were organized to be geographically diverse. Events were based out of the Portland Metro and Southern Oregon regions to capture a broad statewide audience. 21
