When you are old and have to move to a new place you are not accustomed to, falls happen much more often.
The trauma centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the busiest emergency department in Singapore.
The busiest trauma centre here is seeing a worrying increase in the proportion of elderly patients - highlighting the need for fall prevention as Singapore ages. Tan Tock Seng Hospital's (TTSH) emergency department handles 38,000 trauma cases a year - about a third of all such cases here. In 2012 and 2013, one in five patients needed to be warded. Among the elderly, however, more than half needed to be hospitalised, the hospital has revealed. Over this period, seniors with fall-related injuries made up nearly half of all cases of trauma, which refers to physical injury due to causes ranging from traffic accidents to burns.
Comments: From Xian Lian Zeng
The installation of hand-hold and rails for elderly people should be done long before the need arises. So that they form habits to use them and get the 'hang' of things when they do need them - even when their eyesight deteriorates.
Which is why to let the elderly 'downgrade' or move house is a disorientating...move. We are creatures of habit whether we like it or not. And especially when we age. We should have some certainty of a home we know even when the lights are out and we are up...and going.
The trauma centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the busiest emergency department in Singapore.
The busiest trauma centre here is seeing a worrying increase in the proportion of elderly patients - highlighting the need for fall prevention as Singapore ages. Tan Tock Seng Hospital's (TTSH) emergency department handles 38,000 trauma cases a year - about a third of all such cases here. In 2012 and 2013, one in five patients needed to be warded. Among the elderly, however, more than half needed to be hospitalised, the hospital has revealed. Over this period, seniors with fall-related injuries made up nearly half of all cases of trauma, which refers to physical injury due to causes ranging from traffic accidents to burns.
Comments: From Xian Lian Zeng
The installation of hand-hold and rails for elderly people should be done long before the need arises. So that they form habits to use them and get the 'hang' of things when they do need them - even when their eyesight deteriorates.
Which is why to let the elderly 'downgrade' or move house is a disorientating...move. We are creatures of habit whether we like it or not. And especially when we age. We should have some certainty of a home we know even when the lights are out and we are up...and going.