CVMC Celebrates Fall Prevention Awareness Day

Catawba Valley Medical Center Celebrates Fall Prevention Awareness Day

CVMC Lifeline sponsors Safe Strides Program

HICKORY, NC –Catawba Valley Medical Center is celebrating Fall Prevention Awareness Day, joining organizations in 34 states to increase public awareness about how to prevent and reduce falls among older adults. To celebrate the event, CVMC Lifeline is sponsoring a Safe Strides Program at 1p.m. on Friday, September 23, at the Health First Center in Valley Hills Mall. Seniors and their caregivers, especially, should attend, but all are welcome.

Amanda Lael and Amy Haddock PT, with Gentiva Home Health Care, will present a program on Safe Strides, a comprehensive balance program that helps keep individuals safer in their homes. Participants will be able to interact with the therapist in components of the balance assessment. Lael and Haddock will be available to answer individual questions after the program. Refreshments will be served.

Seniors are living longer and remaining in their own homes; however, falls have become an epidemic problem that jeopardizes seniors’ chances to live independently. Every year in the U.S., one out of three people age 65 and over will fall. This statistic translates to 13.3 million people who will fall in 2011, or one person falling every 2.3 seconds on average. The good news is that there are things seniors can do to lower the risk of falling. CVMC Lifeline hopes to raise awareness of the programs and services that can help reduce falls and fall-related injuries.

Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, N.C., is the region’s largest not-for-profit, public healthcare system and serves the community without direct funding from taxes. CVMC provides and promotes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventive medicine and acute care. CVMC has received three Magnet designations from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and has been recognized for providing “An Outstanding Inpatient Experience” for a fourth consecutive year by J.D. Power and Associates. For more information, please visithttp://www.catawbavalleymedical.org.