In May 2014, 65-year-old Marjorie from Ohio took a spill outside her home while walking her dog. She fell so hard, she was in pain and could not get herself up off the ground. Because she wasn’t planning on being out of the house too long, she left her cell phone in the house.
Luckily, she had purchased a Medical Guardian Mobile Guardian device from Life Safety Consultant, Mike Allford,and was able to connect to a trained operator to request help. Our monitoring service sprang into action, sending EMT services to Marjorie’s location, thanks to the GPS-geo targeting system in her Mobile Guardian device.
Emergency Services were able to make it over to Marjorie within minutes, to help her with a lift assist. She was not seriously injured, but makes a point of never leaving home without her Mobile Guardian now!
Stats And Facts About Falls
- According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 3 people over the age of 65 takes a near fatal fall every year.
- The American College of Emergency Physicians recently published a study, which found that each year, 2.3 million ER visits can be attributed to falls among senior adults.
- In 2010, falls among older adults cost the U.S. health care system $30 billion in direct medical costs, when adjusted for inflation.
- The financial toll for older adult falls is expected to increase as the population ages and may reach $59.6 billion by 2020.
- According to the study, 20-30% of people who experience falls end up with moderate to severe injuries, that can range from hip fractions to head trauma. These types of falls lead to traumatic brain injuries and 95% of hip fractures in the U.S. The crazy part? Many of these falls probably could have been avoided with the proper safety precautions.
- Many falls do not result in injuries, yet a large percentage of non-injured fallers (47%) cannot get up without assistance.
