About Me
Hello, Ed Grosso here.
ABOUT ME
WHY THIS WEBSITE IS IMPORTANT
One in Four Seniors Falls Each Year. This Is Totally Unacceptable.
When I read these statistics below about people over 65 years of age, I felt disturbed and sadden. I wanted to change it. I wanted to do whatever I can to reduce these horrible consequences as much as possible. There is no valid reason we cannot change this for seniors. And Yes, I am one of those over 65.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- One in four Americans aged 65+ falls each year.
- Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall; every 19 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall.
- Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults.
- Falls result in more than 2.8 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 27,000 deaths.
- In 2015, the total cost of fall injuries was $50 billion. Medicare and Medicaid shouldered 75% of these costs.
- The financial toll for older adult falls is expected to increase as the population ages and may reach $67.7 billion by 2020
These statistics are not getting any better. Considering that we will be living longer it will be getting worse.
What Conditions Make You More Likely to Fall?
Research has identified many conditions that contribute to falling. These are called risk factors. Many risk factors can be changed or modified to help prevent falls. They include:
- Lower body weakness
- Being distracted and not paying attention
- Vitamin D deficiency (that is, not enough vitamin D in your system)
- Difficulties with walking and balance
- Use of medicines, such as tranquilizers, sedatives, or antidepressants. Even some over-the-counter medicines can affect balance and how steady you are on your feet.
- Vision problems
- Foot pain or poor footwear
- Home hazards or dangers such as
- broken or uneven steps, and
- throw rugs or clutter that can be tripped over.
Most falls are caused by a combination of risk factors. The more risk factors a person has, the greater their chances of falling.
Healthcare providers can help cut down a person’s risk by reducing the fall risk factors listed above.
You can see the CDC complete report by clicking here:
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SOME PERSONAL NOTES
I enjoy growing the coaching industry by training more and more people to become coaches, to coach individuals and businesses to a higher level of development to meet the rapid levels of change and provide deeper and more advanced techniques of personal development through Radix bodywork. Earlier I was involved in computer hardware and software design and quality assurance. I want to use all this knowledge to help seniors from not falling.
I have two children near Boston. Two step-children in Portland Oregon and one stepkid in Oakland California. I love to travel, read poetry, and lately, Tai Chi has consumed a great deal of my time.
I live in Oxford Connecticut with my lovely partner Lois and our dog Silky and the boss of the house Marmalade the cat.