May is National Trauma Awareness Month and SIH’s Second Act Program is letting people know the dangers that a fall can have.
Many times, people think of car crashes or catastrophic injuries when they think of trauma. But statistics show accidents in the home send more people to trauma centers than you might think.
SIH trauma surgeon and Trauma Medical Director Dr. Roy Danks says typically one fall will lead to another, particularly in people over 50.
“When you start seeing signs of frailty in that population, we need to be thinking about what things around the house make us more prone to falls. Are we going up and down stairs to do laundry or go to our bedroom? Are we using a number of rugs, even things like pets and the way furniture is positioned at home increase our risk of falls.”
Dr. Danks says SIH had more than 500 trauma injuries from older adults falling last year.
