Falls are one of the greatest risks to maintaining good health for millions of elderly Americans living at home today. “Falls Among the Elderly: Key is Prevention, Not Detection” is the featured topic of the newest installment of The Home Telehealth Community of Care web page at www.informationfortomorrow.com/community. This web page helps healthcare providers and family members find much needed information on developing tools and applications to prevent falls among the elderly.
The “Prevention 101” segment of the new web page introduces products that propose to predict and prevent falls such as sensing changes in gait. The “Look Homeward” segment of the new web page introduces today’s falls prevention programs and looks at the building blocks that are needed, such as do-able safety instructions from the CDC for modifying the home.
Information and ideas are given to determine which fall prevention devices or programs work best. For example, details are given on a decade-old falls prevention program in place at Jewish Home Lifecare in New York that incorporates a combination of preventive activities, programs, and devices for individual clients at home or in other alternate care site settings.
A concluding overview of noninvasive tools for fall prevention is provided in the “Coming Home” segment of the web page by telecare industry expert and medical engineer, Dr. Kevin Doughty. He describes inexpensive and very usable telecare devices used in the UK that help to ensure the safety of senior residents living at home. This in effect, helps family members feel less anxious knowing that the telecare devices are effectively providing an electronic safety blanket around their loved ones.
The Home Telehealth Community of Care web page is developed and kept up-to-date by Information for Tomorrow, a telehealthcare company that has specialized in research in home telehealth tools and applications since 1995.
According to the Research Director and lead writer Audrey Kinsella, this quarterly updated resources page provides readers with the opportunity to get targeted information on selected topics in home telehealthcare. As she notes “People want to know what’s out there, what it costs, and what works in home telehealthcare.”
For more details, contact Information For Tomorrow at telehealthcare@lycos.com or call (828) 252-8571.
