Your Health: Program targets cause, recovery for elders injured in falls
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Eighty-nine-year-old George Griffin needs help to get around. Back on Christmas Day he became a statistic -- one of a majority of people over 65 injured by a fall.
“I had been sitting here in the chair, don’t know if I was going to the bathroom or what,” Griffin said. “I got to the middle of the floor and everything gave out on me. Landed on my rear-end and broke my hip.”
Griffin ended up at Seton Medical Center-Williamson. Besides the usual emergency treatment, George became part of a new program called "65 and Strong."
It doesn't just treat an injury -- the program goes the extra step to find out why the injury occurred in the first place and aggressively works to rehabilitate the patient.
Doctors take a look at the patient’s overall health and nutrition, but also check out the patient's home. They look for clutter, check on heating and cooling and look for loose rugs on the floors.
Griffin’s daughter, Donna Sauls, said she appreciates the program. For her, it means coordinated care for her dad.
“All the doctors were communicating with each other,” she said. “Rather than each one coming by individually and seeing him.”
Doctors say the effort to rapidly treat and rehabilitate older patients means 85 percent of them can get back to their pre-injury level of activity.
Griffin still has a ways to go, but he’s taking it all in stride, one step at a time.