Jamie McIntyre, 509.435.7058
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at 4:38 p.m.
City of Spokane Fire Department (SFD) and Spokane Valley Fire Department (SVFD) are taking proactive steps to make our community safer through advancing awareness of older adult falls. According to Spokane Regional Health District, older adult falls are the leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations and deaths in Spokane County. Falls-related Emergency Medical Service (EMS) calls are one of the top non-fire response related calls we respond to.
Over the last decade, older adult fall-related hospitalizations have increased by 30% nationwide. There is an estimated 50 billion dollars spent annually on medical expenses associated with older adult falls in the United States.
Locally, SFD, SVFD and other area wide agencies including hospitals, are all observing the community wide impact of older adult falls.
“Most falls are preventable and are not a natural part of aging. The leading factor for being at risk of a fall is having experienced a fall, especially with an injury” said City of Spokane Fire Department Community Risk Reduction Manager, Jamie McIntyre. “We are honored to partner with local organizations in sharing evidence based falls prevention programs that are proven to make people and our community safer.”
“Being able to provide resources for falls prevention education and programs to those at highest risk for future falls often proves difficult, “said Spokane Valley Fire Department Fire Marshal, Greg Rogers. “Fire departments and EMS staff are considered to be trusted sources of health-related information, providing an informational Falls Matter flyer to people we encounter on our calls is an ideal method for increasing public awareness and getting much needed information to those older adults at risk.”
The short term goal of the program is to connect people at greatest risk for falls with free, data proven, falls prevention resources resulting in a reduction of future falls. The long term goal is to decrease the percentage of repeat falls-related EMS calls in the service areas of both SFD and SVFD. Data from both departments has been evaluated to identify high-volume areas and stations for participation in the pilot program.
Data collection will include:
Upon completion of the pilot program, the data will be evaluated and a determination made regarding any revisions to the flyer and data collection points; additional distribution methods will also be discussed. A further determination will decide whether an additional pilot is required, whether a program roll-out is appropriate, or whether a new approach is deemed necessary.
