KETTERING — The Centers for Disease Control said the leading cause of injury for adults aged 65 or older is falling.
Some companies have come up with a more advanced way of keeping an eye on these seniors while allowing them to remain as independent as possible.
“It’s a huge problem. If you look at the statistics one in four patients are people 65 and older,” Tesha Smith, injury prevention coordinator at Kettering Health said.
With those patients falls are the leading cause of injuries.
“Then sometimes that can then start this cascade of other complications that come from the fall,” Smith said.
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If they don’t have a phone near them or something to use to call for help, they may have no choice but to lie there and wait.
“Sometimes we’ll have patients that have laid for two or three days in their home before somebody is able to go and check on them. So anything that gets help to them quicker, is absolutely vital,” Smith said.
This is what Palarum LLC in Lebanon is working to do with their “smart sock.”
It helps prevent falls and has special sensors built into the fabric.
“The purpose of the technology is to help the staff and the nurses understand when a patient has stood up, a fall risk patient stood up and then alert them so they can go into the room and assist them,” Chris Baker, co-founder of Palarum said.
AT&T and Cane Mobilities have developed an AI cane.
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“The first thing is that it basically acts as a telephone,” Joe Drygas, head of healthcare at AT&T said.
It has GPS location monitoring, fall detection, and a flashlight.
Smith thinks these types of devices are a great idea considering a good chunk of these falls can be prevented.
“I think anything that would alert you know whether it is a caregiver, whether it is you know, fire and EMS that a patient has fallen I think is absolutely beneficial,” Smith said.
Smith said keeping older adults active is extremely important to help prevent their muscles from losing strength which in turn is what could cause them to fall.