The Christmas season is upon us. All the sights, sounds, smells and tastes that we associate with the wonderful celebration of the birth of Christ fill most of us with warm feelings. We scurry around looking for just the right gift for that special someone. But what to get for the person who has everything? I am going to suggest a gift that keeps on giving. Give the gift of safety and peace of mind in the New Year and beyond.
Most of us know an elderly person who has fallen or maybe we have fallen ourselves. What you may not know is that up to one third of Americans aged 65 and older fall each year. In fact falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults. Often a fall begins a downward spiral of lack of confidence which leads to more falls. The financial toll for falls by older adults will increase as the population ages and may reach 54.9 billion by 2020. If you or a loved one is prone to falling, these are staggering statistics. To put it into perspective, every 15 seconds an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall; every 29 minutes an older adult dies following a fall. So how do you prevent yourself or a loved one from becoming one of these statistics?
Solid Rock Enterprises, Inc. is pleased to offer the Fall Protection Package. This package protects you from fall related injuries, particularly in the bathroom. We focus on the bathroom because many falls occur in the bathroom and the ones that do can be the most devastating. Falls are more likely to occur in the bathroom for several reasons. First of all, everything is more slippery when it is wet. Second we often go the bathroom during the night, when we are only partially awake. Third, if we do fall we grab whatever we can to steady ourselves and most of these items will not bear our weight. And fourth, surfaces in most bathrooms are very hard, leading to greater injury in a fall.
The three components of the Fall Protection Package are a Safeway Step, grabcessories, and smart cell flooring. The Safeway Step is a tub cutout that lets you step into the tub much easier. Stepping over the tub wall gets increasingly difficult for many older Americans and many falls occur as people are getting in or out of the tub. The second component consists of strategically placed grab bars. Having a securely mounted grab bar can mean the difference between a momentary loss of balance and a devastating fall. We offer grab bars cleverly disguised as needed bathroom accessories. The final component of the Fall Protection Package is SmartCells® flooring. This revolutionary flooring product will reduce the impact of a fall by up to a factor of ten. The SmartCells® patented, dual-stiffness structure becomes softer under impact while at the same time providing stability for balance-impaired persons and care-givers. Available in different colors as well as drain through versions for use in a shower or tub, SmartCells® offer fall protection previously unavailable anywhere. If you have a loved one who is prone to falling, why not give them the gift of safety and peace of mind in the New Year? Call us at (540) 384-2064 for more details, and this year give them the gift that will truly make a difference in their lives. Thank you for reading Housing Matters and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year!
