Nine area mayors, deputy mayors and reeves gathered at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre at RDC on Friday to help kick-off Falls Prevention Month in November. The event is organized each year by the Central Alberta Falls Prevention Coalition. (rdnewsNOW/Sheldon Spackman)

By Sheldon Spackman

Falls Prevention Month

Central Alberta Falls Prevention Coalition hosts 2019 Walk with the Mayors

Nov 1, 2019 | 1:13 PM

An annual event aimed at raising awareness about preventing falls in our community took place at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre on the campus of Red Deer College on Friday.

This year, Walk with the Mayors was hosted by the Central Alberta Falls Prevention Coalition to help kick off National and Provincial Falls Prevention Awareness Month.

The event saw nine local mayors, deputy mayors and reeves take part, from communities including Red Deer, Penhold, Blackfalds, Sylvan Lake, Innisfail, Bowden, Olds, Sundre and Mountain View County.

Dr. Mohammed Mosli, medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services (AHS) Central Zone, says falls are a significant source of emergency room visits each year.

“Typically when someone thinks of a fall, they think of a trip or a collision,” says Mosli. “But when you look at how it impacts a population, it gives you a different picture. Falls can cause people to lose days of enjoyment, work, source of income, happiness, connecting with their loved ones, and if you ask anyone, they’ll know someone who fell and got injured from it.”

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Mosli outlines a number of ways people can help prevent a fall.

“They can strengthen their bodies through nutrition, exercise, balance exercise, or look at their environment around them,” he explains. “They can implement simple interventions that we’re recommending that can help them avoid falling, or their loved ones falling and being injured.”

Falls can happen to anyone at any age, he adds.

“When someone thinks of a fall or an injury, they think about a senior who fell and broke his or her hip, or a child who fell at a playground,” says Mosli. “That is not the reality. Falls affect older adults ages 40-65, and in Central Zone specifically, we had over 5,000 visits to the emergency department or urgent care facility (in 2018) due to a fall.”

Officials with AHS reveal falls are the leading cause of injury in Alberta, with fall-related injuries most commonly caused by slips or trips on the same level for middle-aged or older adults.

Additionally, almost 40,000 adults aged 45-64 sought emergency treatment for a fall-related injury in 2018 – an increase of 28.5 per cent from 2008-2017.

For more information on preventing falls and Falls Prevention Month, visit albertahealthservices.ca.