2004 News Archives

Fall Prevention Center Established
12/17/04

Falls are a preventable problem for many older persons. The new unit will train health-care and social-service professionals, creating model programs and best practices for California and the nation.

By Maria Henke

USC is part of a consortium that has established the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence, which aims to raise public awareness about the serious nature of falls by seniors.

The center – funded by the Archstone Foundation – unites leading experts from USC’s Andrus Gerontology Center; the Center for Successful Aging at Cal State Fullerton; the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System; UCLA; and the State of California’s Department of Health Services.

Falls are a preventable problem for many older persons.

Just as prevention strategies can reduce heart disease, research indicates that up to 30 to 50 percent of falls are preventable by combining risk assessment and medication management; physical activity that includes balance and strength exercises; and environmental modifications in the home and the community.

The center’s purposes are to train health-care and social-service professionals on how to prevent falls; and create model programs and best practices that will set the standard for California and the rest of the nation.

“The sad news is that almost everyone has family members who have experienced falls, many of which are serious,” said Jon Pynoos, UPS Foundation Professor of Gerontology in USC’s Andrus Gerontology Center.

“It has been said that we are all just one fall away from the emergency room, surgery or a nursing home. As the population ages, falls will become an even more serious problem. The good news is that there is something we can do about it,” said Pynoos, co-director of the center.

The center will offer a variety of courses for professionals that involve medication management, balance and mobility training, as well as environmental modifications.

The center plans to host two statewide summits on fall prevention and will assist communities with grassroots public awareness campaigns to alert older persons that preventive actions can reduce the possibility of falls.

Center co-director Debra Rose, developer of the “Fall Proof Program™ and professor of kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton, said, “Even many of our participants in their nineties have significantly reduced their risk for falling as a result of their involvement in our community-based balance and mobility programs.”

The center plans to work with community partners and organizations to create model programs, testing the best ways to organize and intervene to reduce falls. USC will assist in the creation of eight of those programs.

“There are many existing programs on which to build,” said center co-director Laurence Rubenstein, director of the Greater Los Angeles Geriatric and Clinical Center at the VA’s L.A. Healthcare System and professor of geriatric medicine at UCLA.

“We hope to also involve groups such as HMOs that will recognize the economic and humane reasons to invest in fall prevention,” Rubenstein said. “Our plan is to provide professionals, agencies and individuals with the knowledge and skills and to intervene appropriately.”

Barbara Alberson, chief of the State and Local Injury Control Section of California’s Department of Health Services, pointed out that more than 1.3 million age 65 and over in the state fall each year, and more than 213,000 suffer a serious injury or fatality.

"Many older people fail to report falls to either caregivers or health-care providers over the fear of losing their independence or because they are unaware that many falls can be prevented," said Phoebe Liebig, USC professor of gerontology.

For more information about the center, go to www.stopfalls.org.

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