Falls Aren't Funny

Alyssa's Story

My name is Alyssa Bologna. Not all major slip and fall accidents are older people. I was a 16 year old varsity swimmer, lifeguard, and swim instructor. The pool was my second home. It was a nine-million dollar facility with an olympic sized pool. Unfortunately they spent as little as they could on the flooring.

On October 21, 2005 I was asked to come into work to help out collecting money for a water polo tournament. I didn't realize that it would effect the rest of my life. The front desk lady told me that I could go get a snack and drink from the coaches office (the back office). I grabbed a 7-up and walked back to the door. Before I reached it I slipped on the slippery tile which was wet from people walking in and out of it all day. I laid there in shock while people called 911 and my parents. I got to the hospital, was sedated, evaluated, and sent home. I had to wait around a week to go to surgery.

I had dislocated my knee cap from the fall, and when it tried to go back in it hit my femur and broke. 2/3rds of my knee cap was floating inside of my body. I had shredded my medial tendon, bruised my femur, and dislocated my hip.

I had a three hour surgery. It was the most painful experience I have ever had. I ended up having to stay over night (it was supposed to be a day surgery).

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Something to think about...

Among older adults, falls are a serious public health problem. In the United States, one out of every three persons over the age of 65 falls each year, and two-thirds of those people who fall do so again within six months.

 

Among people age 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths and serious injuries. About 9,600 older adults died in 1998 from fall related injuries. Among seniors with osteoporosis, falls can cause devastating injuries such as hip fractures (75%-80% of hip fractures are sustained by women). Half of all older adults who are hospitalized for a hip fracture cannot return home or live independently after their injuries.

 

Source: US CDC

 

$60 Billion and Counting!

Believe it or not, fall related injuries cost the country nearly $60 billion a year. That's about the same annual cost of the gulf war! The even bigger surprise is that most slips and falls can be prevented! Did you that:

• Falls are the leading cause of emergency room visits in the U.S?
• Falls are the leading cause of accidental death for people over the age of 85?
• Less than 10 percent of all fall related claims are fraudulent?

This blog is committed to all of those victims and soon to be victims of a fall. According to the Census Bureau, the number of American's to reach the age of 60 will grow from a current base of 36 million to 76 million by the end of this decade. Given the likelhood of an elderly person falling, you can see that unless something is done soon, we are soon to find ourselves in a slip-and-fall crisis.

If you are under the age of 25 you probably don't care much about this problem. If you are age 65 you are aware that this is indeed a problem. If you are over the age of 80, you probably worry about falling every day. Interestingly, those 25 year olds are the ones paying for the 80 year olds medical costs. Funny how that works!

In the coming days you will learn a lot more about this our slip-and-fall problem and the real people whose lives have been changed due to a fall.  You will learn about the causes, the solutions, and the rhetoric. How corporate America has responded (or should I say has failed to respond) to the "slip and fall problem" and how the both the media and legal system have framed the issue. The fact is, falls are a REAL problem that all of us will eventually face, that is if we live long enough.  So why not  give the topic its due? Afterall, we are all paying for it to the tune of $60 billion a year.