No one wants to fall. We even rename classes to Moving for Better Balance to avoid planting the seed of falling, thinking this will help if we don’t say the word – fall. Today UC Health’s Lori Morgan, will talk us through the physical, physiological and mental causes of falls. We’ll bet there is news here for our listeners.
Aging with Altitude is recorded in the Pikes Peak region with a focus on topics of aging interest across the country. We talk about both the everyday and novel needs and approaches to age with altitude – whether you’re in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida or Leadville, Colorado. The Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging is the producer.
Transcript
MELISSA MARTS:
Oh, the shocker. You’re going about your everyday routine, and suddenly you are in a free fall and on the ground. Well, September is Falls Prevention Month, and we have the news on how to get back, be stable, balanced, and confident in your everyday life.
VOICEOVER:
This is Studio 809 Podcasts, informing, connecting, and empowering the residents of the Pikes Peak region.
MARTS:
Welcome to Aging with Altitude, a podcast providing information, advice, and resources for seniors, families, and caregivers to help you live your best life. Courtesy of the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging.
We’re coming to you from the Studio 809 Community Podcast Studio at the Next Us, a professional cooperative environment for small businesses in downtown Colorado Springs. I’m your host, Melissa Marts, with the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging. Aging with Altitude is taking a moment here to thank Beacon Senior News as one of our sponsors for supporting and partnering with us on a regular basis.
We are happy to have this partnership with them and are thrilled to share some information about what they’re up to. And so this month, it’s Falls Prevention Month, and the Beacon and Aging with Altitude are tackling this very subject.
Falls are the leading cause of injury for older adults. Between our podcast, as well as the article in the Beacon about proven fall prevention tips to keep you safe at home, you’ll learn how to stay balanced, safe, and strong.
If you live in Pueblo or Fremont County, the Beacon now has a dedicated section just for you in the paper. Inside the paper, you’ll find local events, questions of the month, club and support group listings, fun after 50 activities, and again, Pueblo and Fremont County bits.
Pick up your free Beacon at Safeway, King Supers, libraries, YMCA’s and other Colorado Springs locations. Today, before we get to our topic, I am happy to be here with the managing editor, Rhonda Ray, of the Beacon Senior News. These are one of our fabulous sponsors, and I wanted to take a minute just for Rhonda to share with us what is the latest in the September edition of the Beacon Senior News.
RHONDA RAY:
Well, we were one of very many at the Colorado Springs Senior Center opening, and we did our cover story on that wonderful new building. So it was great to just hear some of the hopes and the dreams and the excitement from those in the inner circle. And so that’s a big part of it.
We also have a story on Pueblo’s Silver Queen, which is a really cool beauty pageant of a different kind. And it’s for women who have lived a lot of life and have the stories to share about it. So that was really cool to do too.
And then we have, of course, all of our usual things, our jokes, our events, our gardening column, all of these things that we do every month. Oh, Healing with Harmony, Melanie D’Amour, is coming to town and she does wonderful singing events for grieving. And so that is pretty interesting too.
MARTS:
Well, let me just stop you right there. Because last year I went to Melanie’s event here in town. I was going through some pretty serious grieving myself.
And I will tell you her presentation, or her performance, it was definitely not a presentation, her performance was amazing. And so yes, I’m glad you’re covering that and encouraging people to think about attending in your September edition. And also very interested in this Silver Queen story. I had no idea. You know, so very interesting to know that people are being excited about aging and being a Silver Queen.
RAY:
They had 45 nominations.
MARTS:
Oh my goodness.
RAY:
In Pueblo, Cañon City area.
MARTS:
Great. Well, good for them. Good for them. And I’m sure there’s a few other Silver Queens all over the country. But right here, we have some of our own. So that’s great. I’m so glad to hear that.
And of course, the Senior Center, this is the best news that we’ve had in a long time. And so glad you had a moment to cover them and do a really in-depth story. And we’re going to be happy to be talking with them later in our podcast here.
And so any little tidbits for what’s going to happen in October?
RAY:
Well, the Aging with Altitude’s own Melissa Marts will be featured in our Question of the Month. Do you remember that a few months ago? So you can find out what her favorite subject was in school.
And then we also have the Senior Roller Skaters at Skate City. I’m excited to share that with everyone. They’re a great group that meets and they skate. You would not believe how well they skate. And then you find out their age. You know, they’re 78-year-olds that are doing all kinds of fancy footwork and just some interesting people at that Skate City event.
MARTS:
Glad to hear people connecting with each other, having fabulous hobbies, interests. And I have seen some of those skaters.
RAY:
Oh, have you?
MARTS:
I have. So I’m glad to know you’re covering them as well. Great.
And tell folks, where can we find the Beacon Senior News? Where can we pick it up?
RAY:
Yeah, it’s at every single Safeway. Not quite every King Soopers. Unfortunately, the one by me doesn’t have it. So cramps my style. But thrift stores, banks, restaurants, every YMCA, every library location. They’re there.
MARTS:
Super, super. And do you have some in regions outside of Colorado Springs as well?
RAY:
Yes. Cañon City, Pueblo and Fremont County. So yeah, anywhere in there, Florence, Penrose.
MARTS:
Well, glad to know that. And any other final thoughts as you’re kind of closing up the periodical here? And anything else you want to share about it?
RAY:
Our Pueblo story for next month is on the Becky Baker Foundation. Rick Baker, who is from here, opened a store in Pueblo, it’s the only kind of store like that in the nation, where they get shipments weekly of brand new merchandise, and it goes to women who are breast cancer survivors and their families. All free. You can get up to 15 items by shopping at that store.
And I just think that is so amazing.
MARTS:
Oh, good. Good. We’ll look forward to that too. And I’m so glad that you guys take time to tell good stories and find interesting things to keep us all informed and connected to our community and our region. So thank you very much, Rhonda.
And Beacon Senior News.
RAY:
Yes. Thank you.
MARTS:
Now, for our show today, I am here with Lori Morgan. We’re talking about Falls Prevention Month because it’s September. This is all across the country, an opportunity to think about, how do we stand up and be strong? No falling.
Anyway, I’m here with Lori Morgan. Glad she’s joining me. And Lori has quite a few titles. I’m going to introduce Lori. She is a paramedic. She is an MS,
LORI MORGAN:
a master’s in science.
MARTS:
Thank you very much. She is a trauma outreach and injury prevention specialist. A trauma survivors network coordinator. And she does this with UCHealth Memorial Injury Prevention and Research Institute.
These are a lot of words, a lot of things, great history. You have quite a life career. But tell us a little bit about you and these very unique titles and roles that you hold.
MORGAN:
Well, thank you, Melissa. I appreciate that introduction. So I started off my career in Canada, where I was born and raised. And joined St. John Ambulance as a young 20-ish. And then I moved to Florida and became a paramedic and worked there for about 10 years. And I’ve been here in Colorado for 30 years.
I received my bachelor’s in health care services at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, as well as my master’s in forensic science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. So, about 10 years ago, was very fortunate to meet a lady who had my role before I was in my role. She was going off and doing mission work and said, would I like to take her position? And I said, I’d love to. And so I’ve been enjoying 10 years. I just celebrated my 10-year anniversary with UCHealth. I have a great job. I just absolutely love what I do.
MARTS:
Yeah. Yeah. And so again, it’s kind of interesting, the fact that you have, kind of, trauma survivor, trauma outreach and injury prevention. You know, those are to me, some pretty hot topics and just kind of explain a little bit about how that ties into the work that you are doing. And then we’ll talk a little bit more about this thing of falls prevention, but really want to hear just kind of a little bit more about this trauma outreach and trauma survivors network. What are those?
MORGAN:
Sure. So in my trauma outreach, I do community outreach. So I’m doing community events, you know, senior fairs, health fairs. We were at the Labor Day Lift Off, we had a tent there. We did fit helmets for people and gave them helmets for bicycling because that’s part of our outreach and our work that we do to prevent brain injury. And as an injury prevention specialist, my role exists to keep people out of the hospital. And we look at the biggest mechanisms of injury. Guess what the top mechanism of injury is?
MARTS:
What?
MORGAN:
Falls.
MATS:
Okay.
MORGAN:
Across the lifespan. And so that is the major part of my work is preventing falls by providing classes and speaking such as this here today. And the next mechanism of injury is car crashes. And so we know that older adults are really safe drivers, but we have a program called Car Fit that we do, it’s a 12-point checklist where we fit people in their cars, make sure they’re wearing their seatbelt correctly, make sure the airbag doesn’t go off in their face, but in their chest by the tilt of the steering wheel, and just have them be safe. But we really want to focus more on the younger people with driving because they’re so inexperienced and they really can use all the help they can get. And so we do focus on youth drivers, young drivers, new drivers a lot as well.
And then the trauma survivors network is part of the American Trauma Society. And we, at Memorial Central Hospital, have a local chapter, but we’re also part of the national. So you’ve survived. Now we’re going to connect you with resources, and then you’re going to rebuild. They have groups. We also have groups at times. We do snack and chat cart, we roll around the hospital to the ICU, people that are waiting for family that are in the hospital and give them things that they might need for personal care or entertainment or snack, glass of water, something like that. So that’s a very small part of what I do, but it is an important part as well.
MARTS:
Yeah. Well, and I really, really, really like the idea of reminding people that there is life after trauma. There’s life after falling. All of that is very much available to all of us.
I have a lot of experience in my life with falling and trauma. And so I think that it’s important to remind people that there is life after that. But more importantly, too, is there’s ways to prevent things before it happens. And I know that I have older women friends who are always like, I hate that we call it falls prevention. Can’t we call it balanced and strong? You know, like think about, you know, manifest what you want it to look like, right? When you say falls prevention, all of a sudden it’s like, well, I’m going to fall. So when you think about like this other side of it and, you know, focusing on what, you know, balance looks like, being strong, being stable, running through your neighborhood at night and, you know, being able to navigate the streets and all those kinds of things, all good parts to kind of bring up.
And I appreciate with your program that you guys do kind of focus on the lifespan for sure, which I think is important. But for today, too, I want to think a little bit about our folks who are 60 and over. And, you know, just kind of, if you can share maybe a story that you’ve kind of come across in your time when you’ve worked with folks, and is there a story that kind of has stood out for you?
MORGAN:
Well, there’s a couple of stories. I’ve got actually a lot, but I’ll just share a couple.
So let’s say you’re walking every day out on the street for your exercise. And you are looking at the flowers in this garden that are so beautiful. But if you’re not looking where you’re going, you’re going to trip on that crack in the sidewalk. And so really stop and look at the flowers, and then continue on scanning ahead six to eight, 10 feet in front of you, walking, striking your heel and pushing off your toe, just normal walking. And that should help keep you from at least, you know, tripping while you’re walking or slipping while you’re walking.
The others this morning, and this happened to me this morning. So I’m walking my dog, and this huge flock of birds came over. And so I stopped and just watched the birds. And then we continued with our walk when the birds were all over in the trees. And just taking your time, not rushing. You said something a minute ago about running through the street at night.
That would not be something we would recommend anyone do. Taking your time, going slowly, purposefully. People think you can multitask. You really can’t. We’ve proven this with some of our youth programs. You know, you really should focus on the task at hand, whether that’s going down the stairs or up the stairs, let’s say, and not to be distracted or trying to do two things at once.
It’s a much safer way to get through life.
MARTS:
No kidding. Yeah. And it’s nice if we can slow down and, you know, take in the flowers a little bit. It is a challenge because oftentimes we are running from one thing to the next and, you know, finding time to get a good walk in during the day. You know, we just are busy and want to, you know, kind of run. And so it’s a good reminder to take some deep breaths and slow down and enjoy what’s around you. Take note of what’s kind of happening around you.
MORGAN:
There’s an analogy. There’s a lot of speeding that goes on in our city. And we know because, we work with the police department, that speeding really causes crashes and worse injuries. And if people just drove the speed limit and took their time and really didn’t speed, there wouldn’t be so many crashes and so many injuries out there.
MARTS:
Right, right. Good message. Good message to remind us all when we’re in a hurry, just take a minute and slow down.
And so you have kind of commented about some different ways that people do end up falling. And I do want to talk about this a little bit more, even though I like to focus on how we can be strong and stable and balanced, but let’s just talk about falling. So what are some of the other things that contribute to people falling? You know, it’s one thing to be kind of walking and not paying attention, but falls, especially for people who are over 60, there’s a lot of different things.
Can you kind of highlight a couple of what those look like?
MORGAN:
Our trauma department has a registry staff and the registry staff document all the mechanisms of injury, such as falls and car crashes. Under falls, I think there must be 400 different types of codes on how people can fall.
MARTS:
400.
MORGAN:
I’m guessing there because I’ve looked at it before, but I haven’t actually counted them, but several hundred. So fall off a horse, fall off a curb, slip and fall, trip and fall. Are you familiar with orthostatic hypotension?
MARTS:
No.
MORGAN:
So this is a condition that happens as we age and people lay flat in bed and then they try to get up and go to the bathroom and their blood pressure hasn’t even reached their brain yet and they pass out, because their blood pressure is still laying flat. So with the orthostatic hypotension, we tell people, well, get up and sit on the edge of the bed. Give yourself a minute for your head to start getting the blood flow up there and then stand up and then make sure you’re not dizzy and you feel okay and then you can start walking to the bathroom.
And then speaking of the bathroom, there’s urgency, right? I gotta go. I gotta go right now. Well, that quickness or urgency to get there might make you have a slip, fall, trip, walk into a door or a wall or something like that. So trying to prevent that by having yourself an accessible bathroom very quickly and easily without having to run or go really quickly.
MARTS:
So true.
MORGAN:
Clutter is another reason. So I don’t know about your experiences, but my partner leaves his shoes right in front of the Lay-Z-Boy. And that, when I go over to walk in front of the lazy boy, is clutter to me. And it’s not where the shoes should be. So a lot of times people put things on the stairs, let’s say books on the stairs. Well, all of your pathways should be clear. They shouldn’t be cluttered. So that’s another reason.
And bad shoes are, I see so many people fall because of bad shoes. Your shoes should completely enclose your foot. The name slipper implies that not a good shoe, not a good shoe. You know, you want to have not a high heel, but a low heel. If you’re going to wear a heel, you want to have it either laced up or Velcroed up. You want to have good grips on the bottom.
It’s funny. One time I was teaching new instructors our program and two physical therapists had the most worn out shoes, II couldn’t believe it. And I said, you guys, you can’t, that’s not a good role model. You have to have good grips on the bottom of your shoes.
Well, they’re the best shoes I’ve ever had. And I’ve had them for 15 years. And well, how about you buy the same shoe again with new tread? And so that’s another thing.
Have you heard of syncope?
MARTS:
No.
MORGAN:
So that’s another fancy word medical term for passing out.
MARTS:
Ok.
MORGAN:
And so I knew a man back in Florida who was my friend’s father. And every time he turned his head, he occluded the artery in his neck, which had built up plaque. And he decreased the blood flow by 50% to his brain. So every time he turned his head, he’d pass out. So that’s an easy fix with a little bit of cleaning out in a surgery.
And then we also have medications that cause us, if it says on the bottle, like might cause dizziness or don’t drive the car or operate machinery when you’re…well, if you’re not supposed to drive, how are you going to walk? Like you have to think about how these medications affect you.
MARTS:
So true.
MORGAN:
If it’s like, like the first time you’re taking a medication, you really want to be careful, read all the information, even talk to the pharmacist before you take the medication home to make sure that you don’t have any interactions or you’re not taking something else that is going to make it potentiate or get stronger, because as our bodies age, everything slows down, meaning elimination of drugs.
And so you can build up a toxic amount of drug in you very quickly. So you have to be careful of that. And of course, alcohol, same thing, alcohol and drugs, they kind of go together as far as, have a couple, there might be a problem with your balance or you might trip and fall.
MARTS:
And as people do age, we metabolize alcohol differently. So that’s another important piece to keep an eye on and be aware of. I feel like for people who have fallen, it’s kind of snuck up on them, and you just think that you’ve got everything under control, and then it’s just kind of there.
So I appreciate you taking the time today to just kind of bring awareness to all these different ways that accidental falls can happen, and it can catch up with you before you realize it. And so it’s good to be reminding people to think about these things ahead of time, especially for listeners who have not had a fall yet, who are strong and stable. And let’s keep it that way by being aware and alert and thinking about medications and, you know, changes in our bodies and changes in our environment, all the things.
Talk a little bit about, you’ll have to remind me the name of your actual falls prevention program and the one that you guys kind of teach out in the community. So of course, just kind of say that name for us again, and then tell us about that program. What does it look like and how do people get involved?
MORGAN:
Oh, sure. Thank you. So our program is called Aging with Independence and Mobility or AIM for short. It is a four-week program. It’s a series. We meet for one hour a week, once a week, for four weeks. We teach balance and strengthening exercises. We talk about things like the home environment, home safety.
We talk about vision, medications. We talk about shoes, and we share how some assistive devices can help folks as well, such as a cane, walking sticks, or a walker.
MARTS:
Great. And it’s a four-week program. Like, how often does this happen? Is it, you know, tell a little bit about the timing for it.
MORGAN:
Yeah, so this month we’re offering two separate locations. Our Memorial Administrative Center is on Pikes Peak Avenue, that’s our main location for classes, but we’re also down at Parkview Patterson Center in Pueblo this month. So we’re offering a class Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings, and that’s this month. Next month, we’ll be going up to Pikes Peak Regional Hospital in Woodland Park, and we’ll also be down at Security Fire Station Number 4. So we do move around in our community, and my region is Southern Colorado, so we do incorporate other places besides Colorado Springs.
MARTS:
Yeah, good to know. Good to know, and glad you can have those resources out there. And is there a cost for the class?
MORGAN:
Our classes are all free.
MARTS:
Wow, yeah. So people need to definitely remember that. And the way to find them is by going on the UCHealth website, or what’s the best way to find a class?
MORGAN:
Well, I’m going to give you a couple of different ways to get in touch with my department, and then there’s also the UCHealth website.
So my email is InjuryPrevention@UCHealth.org. Great. So it’s all one word, InjuryPrevention@UCHealth.org. My number is 719-365-2872. And then if you wanted to just go look for AIM on the website, go to UCHealth.org/events, and then type in AIM, and you’ll see the classes listed through the rest of this year.
MARTS:
Great. That’s helpful. Thank you so much.
MORGAN:
You’re welcome.
MARTS:
And I love taking strong AIM. Keep your AIM true.
And tell us a little bit, what are the top three things? You’ve talked about a lot of other pieces already so far, but maybe three more strategies, techniques to stay strong and balanced.
MORGAN:
Well, I think the most important thing is to stay active. And so whether that’s a balance class or a yoga class or line dancing, staying active is so important.
And it’s something you should do every day. Every single day. Besides balance, it’s not impossible to gain strength as we get older. We just have to work a little harder at it.
So we have to maybe add weights or resistance bands in addition to using our own body as a weight. If I’m lifting my arm up and down, well, my arm weighs something. So that’s weight bearing, and that’s important.
I did talk a little bit about medications, but a medication reconciliation once a year would be important, along with your vision check once a year. Vision is your most important balance center. You have three. And so that is important just a friendly reminder to have your annual eye exam.
MARTS:
Yeah. So the three balance centers, what are those?
MORGAN:
Okay. So I just mentioned the vision and vision is most important to your balance. So if you lose your vision or you’re losing your vision, we’re going to have to rely on the other balance systems more.
So the second balance system is in your inner ear. And so this is kind of when we’re riding in a car or in an elevator, for example, turning your head, that would be another balance system.
And then lastly, our proprioception or somatosensory system, which is our touch and feel. So if I feel the ground beneath my feet, I know where I am in space. And that helps be oriented to where I’m at and how I’m feeling with my balance. They all work together, those three systems.
And we do offer a side exercise that we do that does challenge all three of those with a bean bag.
MARTS:
Wow.
MORGAN:
So you take the bean bag and you stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and you toss the bean bag from one hand to the other as you’re turning your head and watching it go from side to side.
And you’re using all three balance centers that way. It primes your neurological system to go if you’re going to go do something complicated like a hike.
MARTS:
And so talk about priming your neurological center, because I can see people right now listening. What an easy thing to do to just grab something that has a little bit of weight to it, put it in your hands, kind of toss it back and forth over your head, turning your head. But what does that mean to prime your, what was it again?
MORGAN:
Your neurological system.
MARTS:
Neurological system.
MORGAN:
So you’re using your three balance centers to toss the bean bag, let’s say 10 or 20 times. And what that does is that just gets you warmed up to do something a little more complicated. And so once we’ve got that warm up, we can go on and do whatever. The person that taught me this is a neuro-optometrist here in town. And he prescribed this for his daughter who was in the marching band. And she just needed, a little sort of a pick-me-up, to get her going to be coordinated enough to march in the band and play the instrument and so forth. So that’s an exercise he prescribed for her. And now we share that with our folks too.
Anybody can do it. I mean, it’s not that difficult, but it does take a little practice to get good at it. And our balance changes every day. We’re not the same every single day.
MARTS:
So true. So true.
So again, September is Falls Prevention Month. Happy to be here with you guys. UC Health talking about your programs. And my agency, the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging, we have partnered with some folks down in the Fountain-Security-Widefield area for the month of October, kind of kicking off a safety month.
So, you know, September is Falls Prevention. That’s great. But then we’re going to roll into October and have Safety Month. And can you talk a little bit about what’s happening in the Fountain area for the month of October? And specifically, you did kind of mention already, you’re going to have some falls classes down there. But do you have some other details about kind of what’s going on down there? If not, I do have some of them. But I wanted to, you know, just kind of mention that you guys are a big part of that. And, you know, what comments or thoughts would you have to share about what’s coming up in the month of October down there in the Fountain area? Of course, anybody can go down there.
MORGAN:
Right.
MARTS:
But definitely, you know, that the Security-Widefield Fire Department, I think, is kind of part of it, right? So what do you know about that, too, Lori? How did you get involved?
MORGAN:
Well, Dali is one of the employees over at the Pikes Peak Area Council on Aging. And she and I met several months ago when I was picking up Yellow Books. And I was talking about what I do and how we haven’t had a class down in the Fountain Valley for fall prevention since 2017. And she said, well, let’s do something about that. And so she reached out and she found the Security Fire Department Station 4 willing to host us. It’s a brand new fire station off of Mesa Ridge.
MARTS:
Oh, good. I didn’t know that.
MORGAN:
And it’s beautiful. They have a great view and they have a great classroom. So we’re going to be able to host classes from our side, the Aging with Independence and Mobility your AIM program, as well as classes from your side, which are four weeks of safety topics for older adults.
MARTS:
Yeah, great. So I’m glad that partnership came together, brand new station down there. I know people are really looking forward to that and hoping to have some good old, you know, some good folks showing up and learning new things, hopefully meeting new people, making some social connections while they’re at it. So all really good, and happy to have those classes kick off at the beginning of October. And if people want more information about that, you can visit the Pikes Peak Area Council of Government’s website and look under our aging section to find out more about that as well. So those will be happening in October before we know it, right?
And for people who are listening to this at a different time of the year, falls prevention awareness is happening all the time. Of course, we see, in the wintertime, there’s a different level of awareness that needs to happen. But, spring and summer, as I mentioned, you can’t help yourself but kind of get out in the early evenings and walk when the weather’s nice and it’s pleasant. And so different kinds of times to be aware of your surroundings and your environment and all of that as the time comes, different times of the year. Fall prevention is always something we can be working on.
Any final comments, thoughts from you as we kind of close this out? Again, remembering that September is Falls Prevention Awareness and October Safety Month. Anything else, Lori, from UCHealth you’d like to add or share?
MORGAN:
Well, I just wanted to leave with the fact that falls are not a normal part of aging and they are completely preventable. So thank you so much for having me here today and letting me share what I do.
MARTS:
Yeah, and I’m so glad to be reminded that we can have this not be a natural part of our lives. So thank you. Thanks for all the work you do.
MORGAN:
Thank you.
MARTS:
All right, goodbye.
MORGAN:
Bye now.
MARTS:
That’s the show. Thanks to all of you for being with us today. Aging with Altitude is created by the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, Area Agency on Aging. Visit us at ppacg.org and click on Aging Services for more information about the programs of the Area Agency on Aging.