Older Minds, Larger Databases?

If you or your loved one ever had a “senior moment”, take heart.  A recent experiment lends credibility to the idea that seniors may be slower because their minds are fuller—just what seniors have been saying to young whippersnappers all along.

Linguistic researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany applied advanced learning models to search mammoth databases of words and phrases—data mining, based on theories of information processing to simulate retrieving words.

In general, educated seniors have larger vocabularies than younger people simply by virtue and having lived longer. The experiment simulated an older brain retrieving words from a much larger vocabulary than that of a 22-year-old.  When researchers, led by Michael Ramscar, built that difference into the model, aging “deficits” disappeared for the most part.

“What shocked me, to be honest, is that for the first half of the time we were doing this project, I totally bought into the idea of age-related cognitive decline in healthy adults,” the lead author Ramscar wrote in an email to the New York Times.  Ramscar’s work did not include human subjects, but he says he will plans studies with people in the future.

The researchers concluded that neural processing speed, like other reflexes, likely slows over time, but that the new report adds to a growing body of work demonstrating that age-related decline may not be as steep as previously thought.

Care Management: When Family Caregivers Need Help

We have an amazing new service at Pathways—Care Management. This service provides a nurse or social worker to oversee the care of an older person when loved ones need help to manage the care or don’t live nearby.  It can also provide one-time assessment and care planning for families.   This is an all-encompassing, privately paid service.

Here are just some of the valuable services care managers provide:

• Scheduling and coordinating medical and dental appointments
• Transporting and accompanying clients to health care appointments
• Helping clients comply with medications and recommendations
• Arranging supportive services such as home care, bill paying, transportation, housekeeping, meal delivery or a handyman
• Overseeing caregivers and other providers
• Arranging for safety devices and medical equipment such as emergency response systems, grab bars, shower chairs and wheelchairs
• Providing crisis intervention and supportive counseling
• Long-term planning for appropriate housing options 

Pathways’ first care manager is social worker Stephne Lencioni, LCSW.  She is a long-time supporter of Pathways, often referring clients to us in her 25 years of care management with other organizations.  We are thrilled to have the experience and expertise of such a respected care manager launching this program for Pathways.

This article was originally published in Pathways Physician & Health Professional Bulletin - Issue 26.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Macular Degeneration

Losing Sight

Age related macular degeneration usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field.  It’s due to damage to the retina. Macular degeneration can make it difficult or impossible to read or recognize faces, although enough peripheral vision remains to allow other activities of daily life.

Causes

• Aging: About 10% of people 66 to 74 years of age will have some evidence of macular degeneration. It’s 30% in patients 75 to 85 years old.
• Family history: For someone who has a relative with it, the risk of developing late-stage macular degeneration is 50%.  It is only 12% for others.
• High blood pressure plays a role in MD.
• High cholesterol, obesity, and high fat intake are associated with an increased risk of MD.
• Smoking increases the risk of MD by two to three times that of someone who has never smoked, and may be the most important modifiable factor in its prevention.

 Management

• Reducing fat intake:  This means cutting down greatly on red meats and high-fat dairy products such as whole milk, cheese, and butter, and eating more cold-water fish (at least twice a week); eating any type of nuts may help.
• Nutritional supplements: Some evidence supports increasing intake of two carotenoids: lutein and zeaxanthin.  Eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids has been correlated with a reduced progression of early macular degeneration.
• Adaptive devices: These help people read and include everything from magnifying glasses to computer software.
• Audio books: are also helpful.
• Reverse print: Written material with white text on a dark background is easier to read for people with macular degeneration.

This article was originally published in Pathways Residential Care Journal - Issue 5.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Shingles Overview

What is Shingles?

After a person has had chicken pox the virus that causes it stays sleeping for decades in nerves near the spine.  The virus is herpes zoster.  About 20% of people who have had chicken pox will later have a shingles outbreak.  Shingles usually affects older people and people with weak immune systems.

Cold sores on the lips and genital herpes are caused by different herpes viruses, herpes simplex viruses.

Symptoms

If the virus wakes up, it travels along nerve fibers to the skin, usually appearing in one area, on one side of the body, and along the line of a nerve.  But shingles can be anywhere on the body.  The rash is painful and has fluid-filled blisters.  The first symptoms start 1 to 5 days before the rash and include:

• Itching
• Tingling
• Burning sensation
• Pain, sometimes worse at night

Less common symptoms are fever, chills, headache and stomach ache.  Shingles near the eye or ear can cause vision or hearing loss and are usually treated aggressively.

The blisters usually scab over in 7 to 10 days and disappear completely in 2 to 4 weeks.  In most people the rash leaves no scars and the pain and itching go away after a few weeks or months.

In some people the pain from shingles stays for months or even years after the rash is gone.  The pain is from damage to the nerves in the skin.  This is called post-herpetic neuralgia. 

Treatment

There is no cure for shingles.  But there are antiviral medications that can make the episode shorter and milder if given early.  They also reduce the risk of pain after the rash is gone.  The antiviral drug should be started at the first sign of symptoms to be most effective.

Over-the-counter pain and itch medicines, such as calamine lotion, work fairly well for many people.  If the pain is severe or the rash is near the eye or ear, the doctor may prescribe steroids to reduce the inflammation.  Using a compress dampened with cool water may help with itching.  Scratching should be avoided to prevent damage to the skin and to prevent breaking the blisters.

Vaccine

A shingles vaccine is available.  It prevents about half of shingles cases and reduces the frequency of post-shingles pain.  The Centers for Disease Control recommend that all adults 60 years and older be vaccinated.  The vaccine does not work well in people over 80 and is generally not recommended for this age group.

Is It Contagious?

Yes, but you can’t get shingles from another person; only chicken pox.  If you have never had chicken pox, or the vaccine for it, and you are then exposed to the fluid in the shingles blisters, you can get chicken pox.

Caregivers can carry the virus from one person to another and if the second person has not had chicken pox, they may get it.  Shingles can only be transmitted when the blisters have burst and are oozing, before they crust over. 

What can you do to prevent spread?

• Prevent blisters from breaking open.
• Keep the rash covered to prevent the blister fluid from contaminating others. 
• Assist the resident with shingles to wash hands often. 
• Only caregivers who have already had chicken pox should be assigned to residents with shingles. 
• No one who is pregnant should be assigned to a resident with shingles.
• Keep surfaces clean and disinfected.
• If the resident has shingles on the buttocks, he or she should not use common toilets.
• All caregivers and housekeepers should wear gloves in the resident’s room until he is no longer contagious.  Hands should be washed after removing gloves.
• Determine if roommates or others the resident socializes with are at risk.
• Use common sense precautions.
• Washing Linens

People handling sheets and towels of a person with shingles should wear gloves.  Sheets and towels should not be shaken or set down on a surface, even the floor.  They should immediately be put into a linen bag.  No special procedures are needed for washing linens.

Staff with Shingles

Staff members who have shingles should not care for vulnerable residents, including people with cancer, residents with compromised immune systems or those who have not had chicken pox. 

This article was originally published in Pathways & Partners Newsletter - Issue 27.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Respect Counts More Than Money

Happiness in life may be related more to how much you are respected than how much money you have.

An article published in June in Psychological Science reports that in a series of four studies they tested the hypothesis that higher sociometric status might make a difference in overall happiness.  Sociometric status might be defined as respect and admiration in face-to-face groups such as among friends, in the neighborhood, or on an athletic team.

“We got interested in this idea because there is abundant evidence that higher socioeconomic status—higher income or wealth, higher education—does not boost subjective well-being (or happiness) much at all. Yet at the same time, many theories suggest that higher status should boost happiness,” said psychological scientist Cameron Anderson of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

“Having high standing in your local ladder leads to receiving more respect, having more influence, and being more integrated into the group’s social fabric,” said Anderson.

One possible explanation for the results is that people adapt. “One of the reasons why money doesn’t buy happiness is that people quickly adapt to the new level of income or wealth. Lottery winners, for example, are initially happy but then return to their original level of happiness quickly,” said Anderson.

Adaptation of this sort may not occur with local status. “It’s possible that being respected, having influence, and being socially integrated just never gets old,” Anderson said.

For more details visit www.psychologicalscience.org and use the search word “respect.” 

This article was originally published in Pathways Physician & Health Professional Bulletin - Issue 25.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Old Person Smell

Is there really such a thing as “old people smell,” or is it in your imagination when you visit seniors who look right at home among their antiques?  A recent study says young people really can identify such a smell, and old men smell the best.

Research

Just how do you go about proving this?  Johan Lundström and his colleagues at the Monell Chemical Sense Center in Philadelphia collected the underarm scents of people in three age groups: 20-30 years old, 45-55 years old and people 75-95 years old.  Then they had other young people (ages 20-30) sniff the armpit pads.

Collecting Scents

The researchers had the participants wear the same T-shirt to bed for five nights.  The shirts and sheets had been washed with scent-free detergent and the participants washed with scent-free soap every night.  They also agreed not to smoke, drink alcohol or eat foods that are known to cause body odors. Special pads were sewn into the underarms of the T-shirts to collect their body’s scent.

Ratings

The people doing the sniffing rated the pads on pleasantness and intensity and had to guess which of two odors came from older participants.  Then they were instructed to label all of the armpit pads by age category. 

Although they had trouble distinguishing between the young and middle aged people’s pads, they were able to correctly determine which came from old people more often than would be randomly expected.  Evaluators used words such as “earthy” and “mild, like stale water” to describe the odors of older people.

“These elderly odors were very distinct and easy to group together,” says Lundström.  The study found that the armpit pads from old men were rated the most pleasant, especially compared with middle-aged men, although the odors from old women were rated behind those of middle-aged women.

Lundström and his colleagues concluded that if you associate the scent of old people with something negative, it is likely to have more to do with context than the actual odor.

The study was reported online May 30, 2012 in PLoS ONE.

This article was originally published in Pathways Residential Care Journal - Issue 4.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Benefits of Dogs

Healthier Living

Most people know that people who own dogs live longer, have lower blood pressure, less anxiety and better immune systems.  They also have more social interactions, Alzheimer’s patients with dogs in the home have fewer outbursts and men with dogs have lower triglycerides and cholesterol.  These are the scientific conclusions of research about family pets that can be easily found. 

But there are even more benefits and some of them are pretty astounding.  Dogs are being trained to assist in the medical field.  For instance, dogs can be trained to sniff out low blood sugar in diabetics, picking up odors beyond human capacity.  Dogs can also be taught to prod the diabetic with a cold nose, fetch a blood glucose testing equipment or press a phone button that calls 911.

It could be scent or it could be a subtle change in behavior, but some dogs are able to sense a seizure coming on as much as 30 minutes before it occurs.  This means the dog may be able to alert the person, go for help, move objects out of the way and lay down next the person during the seizure.

More and more people with post traumatic stress disorders, such as soldiers returning from war zones, are benefiting from dogs as companions because they can they can ease anxiety in a number of ways.

Dogs also have the remarkable ability to detect certain kinds of cancers.  One example is being able to reveal the presence of bladder or prostate cancer cells in urine.  Some researchers have shown that dogs can recognize lung and breast cancers by smelling the patient’s breath, and they can spot melanoma by licking a person’s skin.

A dog’s brain may be only one tenth the size of a human’s, but his nose more than makes up for it: dogs have 40 times as many scent receptors as humans.  It is truer than ever that dogs really are man’s best friend. 

References: My Health News Daily; Web MD.

This article was originally published in Pathways Residential Care Journal - Issue 4.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Communicating with Residents

Be Heard Better

They are just little things, but they make a difference in reducing frustration for you and your residents.  We’re talking about techniques you can use every day to make communication smoother and more satisfying.

First let’s look at body position.  Standing over a resident who is sitting or in bed may feel threatening, especially if you are very close.  Research has shown that patients thought that their doctors stayed longer at the bedside than they actually did when the doctor sat down.  So try sitting down to appear less hurried. 

When people have hearing problems, as many older adults do, it is important to face the person directly and have your face at their eye level.  The shapes our lips make when speaking and expressions give residents a lot of clues to what we are saying.  It should go without saying that we should make sure hearing aides are in place, are turned on, and have fresh batteries.

Next we should speak slowly and clearly, enunciating our words precisely—slow down.  Older ears need more time to decipher what you are saying.  If you also have an accent, slowing down your speech will help older, hard-of-hearing adults understand you better.  It also helps to use gestures to supplement what you are saying.  For example, if you want the resident to sit in a chair, pat the chair or sit down to demonstrate what you would like.

By paying attention to the little details in our communications with the elderly, we can make the interchange more satisfactory for them and us!

This article was originally published in Pathways & Partners Newsletter - Issue 24.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Reasons to Get Online & On Your Feet

Agile Minds

We have known that mental activity staves off cognitive impairment, and the same is known about exercise.  But is it even more effective if seniors do both?  It looks like the answer is yes.

Research involving seniors ages 70 to 93 demonstrated that any amount of moderate exercise in conjunction with using a computer during the previous year resulted in a 64% less likelihood of mild cognitive impairment compared with those who reported neither activity.

According to lead researcher, Yonas Ged, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, there was a significant additive effect when both exercise and the computer were employed.  Geda and colleagues examined data from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, an ongoing population-based study of individuals living in Olmsted County, Minn. The analysis included 926 men and women who did not have dementia.  The researchers controlled for age, sex, education, medical co-morbidity, and depression.

Among seniors who had normal cognition, 36% reported getting any moderate exercise and using a computer in the previous year.  Among those with mild cognitive impairment, only 18.3% reported both exercise and computer use.

The study was reported in the May, 2012 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings and was supported by grants from the NIH and numerous foundations.

This article was originally published in Pathways Physician & Health Professional Bulletin - Issue 24.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Meds That Cause ER Visits

Four Culprits

Just four drugs and drug classes cause two thirds of the 100,000 annual emergency room visits for drug reactions in the elderly, according to recent research.  At the top of the list is warfarin (also known as Coumadin); it alone accounted for one third of the visits.  The other categories are insulins, oral hypoglycemic agents and oral antiplatelet medications.

With antiplatelet or blood thinning drugs, bleeding was the main problem. For insulin and other diabetes medications, about two-thirds of cases involved changes in mental status such as confusion, loss of consciousness or seizures.

Some of the common denominators in these drugs are that: they are commonly prescribed; there is a fine line between the therapeutic dose and a dangerous one; and they can all be difficult to use.  The researchers made note that none of the medications that were culprits were drugs that were labeled “high risk” for older adults, although some over-the-counter drugs like Benedryl are.

“Of the thousands of medications available to older patients, a small group of blood thinners and diabetes medications caused a high proportion of emergency hospitalizations for adverse drug events among elderly Americans,” said lead study author Dr. Daniel Budnitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

“We weren’t so surprised at the particular drugs that were involved,” Budnitz said. “But we were surprised how many of the emergency hospitalizations were due to such a relatively small number of these drugs.”

It is estimated that hospitalizations for accidental overdoses and adverse side effects are likely to increase as Americans live longer and the senior population grows.  Currently 40% of people older than 65 take five to nine medications; 18% take 10 or more.

Researchers at CDC published the study in the Nov. 24, 2011 New England Journal of Medicine.

Antidepressants in Dementia

As many as 20% of patients with dementia may also have depression.  The usual treatment is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or a noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant.  But some research has questioned the effectiveness of these treatments.

In a study published in The Lancet, (volume 378, Issue 9789, pages 403 - 411, 30 July 2011), Sube Banerjee MD, a London-based expert in old age psychiatry, and his colleagues concluded that because there was an absence of benefit compared with placebo and increased risk of adverse events, the practice of using these antidepressants should be reevaluated.

“Depression is one of the most important co-morbidities in dementia.  It is a source of great distress yet the treatments we use are not proven,” said Dr. Banerjee.

In their parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of more than 326 patients with Alzheimer’s dementia, decreases in depression scores at 13 and 39 weeks did not differ between 111 controls and 107 participants allocated to receive sertraline (Zoloft) or 108 who received mirtazapine (Remeron).

“I am surprised by just how unequivocal our findings are,” said lead author Banerjee, professor of mental health and aging at King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, United Kingdom.  “The present practice of use of these antidepressants with usual care for first-line treatment of depression in Alzheimer’s disease should be reconsidered,” write the authors.

“The message is to think before using antidepressants for depression in dementia.  It may well be that these symptoms will resolve with the problem-solving and information-giving that is implicit in good-quality dementia care,” added Dr. Banerjee. The investigators suggest that antidepressants be reserved for “individuals whose depression has not resolved within 3 months of referral, apart from those in whom drug treatment is indicated by risk or extreme severity.”

Funding for this study was provided by the UK National Institute of Health Research HTA Programme.

More Seniors Living Beyond 90

1.9 million Americans have reached the age of at least 90 years according to a recent report by the National Institute on Aging and the US Census Bureau.  This comprises nearly 4.7% of the entire population.

Over the last 30 years, the size of this age group has tripled, creating changes in the landscape of elder housing and elder care.  Nearly 20% of those 90 and older live in nursing homes.  Senior living facilities are home not only to older, but sicker, residents now. 

“Traditionally, the cutoff age for what is considered the ‘oldest old’ has been age 85,” Census Bureau demographer Wan He said. “But increasingly people are living longer and the older population itself is getting older. Given its rapid growth, the 90-and-older population merits a closer look.” 

The complete report can be found at: http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-17.pdf.

Visiting a Friend or Loved One with Dementia

Dementia is a progressive disease that is measured not in months, but in years.  As the disease progresses it may become difficult to visit the patient—he may not recognize you, she may not be able to converse with you, or you don’t know if the person even realizes you are there.

Why Visit?

You may question if there is any reason to visit any more.  With dementia it can be hard to know how to be supportive, especially at the end of life.  

There is a good reason to visit—you can make a difference.  The focus of visits shifts; instead of expecting an exchange of pleasantries, your motivation becomes, “What can I do to improve quality of life?”
 
Your visit really begins with you, at home.  You may want to think about your feelings.  Am I frightened I too will end up with dementia? Am I afraid of the end of life?  What do I want to accomplish in my visit?

Planning the Visit

Visiting a person with dementia can be frustrating and unrewarding when you feel as though there is nothing you can do.  You may be able to make the visit more meaningful with some preparation.

Gather together some supplies so that you are prepared for whatever the situation is when you arrive.  A few ideas are:

• Knitting, a crossword or a book to read if the patient is sleeping
• A picture book with large colorful or interesting images
• Interesting photos someone has sent you in an email
• Music you know the patient likes
• A newspaper column, such as Dear Abby or the sports page to read aloud
• A photo album
• A special memento
• A letter from a mutual friend to share
• A nail file and polish for a manicure
• The patient’s favorite perfume
• A favorite food
• Lotion for a hand or foot massage
• A pet, if allowed

The sky is the limit.  Use your imagination and everything you know about the person to come up with ideas of things to share.  The resident may want to listen to news about her book club, his former poker buddies or the doings at church.

The Visit

Begin with the basics.  The visit will be more successful if the resident is clean and dry, not hungry, and comfortable.  Ask for help if needed.
 
Pain can sometimes appear as negative behavior.  People with dementia may withdraw, strike out or display other “bad” behaviors when in pain.  If you have seen behavior changes that you suspect may be due to discomfort, you may want to ask the caregiver for a trial of pain medicine.

Think about providing comfort through the senses.

Touch

We all need to be touched, but seniors are often deprived of this essential element to wellbeing.

• Our society is youth-centered and may look at wrinkled skin as ugly, not weathered with experience.
• Among hospitalized patients, the only ones touched less than the elderly were people who were psychotic.

Touch can be “instrumental;” that means required to carry out activities such as bathing or dressing.  But research shows that people with dementia can tell the difference between this and “expressive” touch.  Expressive touch is when we hold hands, put an arm around the person, or give a back rub or hug.  This conveys acceptance, nurturing and caring.

Expressive touch helps the elderly feel less isolated, dependent and depressed.

• One researcher found that it also made the toucher feel better.  They felt this non-verbal communication conveyed trust, reassurance, and love, and that it instilled hope.
• Others described touch as making a person feel psychologically worthy and have a sense of being cared for and cared about.
• It is no coincidence that the ultimate form of punishment is solitary confinement—no touching.

Caring touch can trigger the brain to release endorphins and serotonin—natural chemicals that suppress pain and depression.  This is one reason massage can lower the perception of pain.

• Massaging a loved one’s hands or back can help significantly while waiting for pain medicine to work.
• Brushing the resident’s hair and applying lotion have the same affect.

Hearing

We know that hearing seems to remain intact until the very end of life.  This gives us an opportunity for providing comfort.

• Soft music can be very soothing to an agitated resident.
• If the resident has been religious, he may appreciate hearing hymns and spiritual music.  Bring in CDs or tapes of his favorites and a CD player to play them on.
• You can even sing or hum a familiar tune.
• Bring in a music box.

Communication
 
If you are not close, calling residents with Alzheimer’s disease “sweetie,” “dear,” “cookie,” or “honey” may cause more resistance to care.  Experts have known for a long time that mentally competent elderly residents in nursing homes are irritated by being “talked down to.”  Recent research shows people with dementia are more agitated when talked to this way.

What they found was that residents were more resistant if the communication was what they dubbed “elderspeak.”

• Saying things like, “Are we ready for dinner?”  implies that the person isn’t able to act independently.  An alternative would be, “Are you ready for me to help you with your dinner?”
• The tendency of caregivers to use “elderspeak” increases with the caregivers perceived level of infirmity of the resident.
• We need to remember that residents were high functioning adults.  The more we remember their earlier lives, the more we respect them as people than as a disease.

Just chatting can be very reassuring.  “I spoke with Michael today, back in Virginia.  He says he and Alice are going to take a trip to Vermont.  They are going as soon as the snow melts.  It’s February now, so it may be a couple of months.”

Maintain the resident’s dignity in small ways: use terms like “disposable briefs” instead of “diapers.”  Remember to speak slowly.  People with dementia take longer to process what you have said.
 
Sense of Smell

This sense is so basic that when we smell a certain odor, it can bring back memories from decades ago.

• Aromatherapy takes advantage of this by providing pleasant smells that might bring back pleasant memories.
• Bring a rose, a lavender sachet, or a scented candle that smells like pumpkin or apple pie.
• A favorite perfume or aftershave can brighten spirits.

Taste

• Bring in a favorite food or drink.  The resident may love Fritos or M&Ms and they won’t be on the menu in assisted living.
• Cleaning the mouth with minty toothpaste or mouthwash on a 4x4 may be refreshing.

We have to be very careful about anything in the mouth at the end of life.  With dementia, all the muscles get weaker and weaker—including the muscles for swallowing. 

• Food or fluids can easily get into the airway, causing aspiration pneumonia.

Textures

• A resident in a facility has little chance to experience unusual textures, such as soft fur or a smooth, cool stone.  A pet or even a stuffed animal may provide comfort.
• Wrapping someone’s hands or feet in a hot, wet towel might feel very soothing and relaxing—the spa treatment!
• Find a way to warm a flannel blanket to wrap the resident in.
• Smooth the sheets or put cool, clean sheets on.  Change the pillow case or turn over the pillow.
• Open a window to feel a breeze.

Imagination

Use your imagination.  Think about what would bring you comfort.  What would feel good to you?  For each visit plan a simple, new, creative way to bring pleasure, serenity or comfort.  Quality of life will improve for both of you.

Want to Learn More?

Visit our website's Caregiver Resource page for more information and helpful hints when caring for a friend or loved one with dementia. 

Vitamin D May Reduce Falls in the Elderly in SNFs

Dietary Supplements

Recent studies indicate that adding Vitamin D supplements to the diets of nursing home residents may reduce the frequency of falls, a leading cause of death and disability in the elderly.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle weakness, which can contribute to falls and fractures. Nursing home residents are especially vulnerable to falling due to advanced age, health problems, and weakened eyesight. In fact, approximately 50% of nursing home residents fall every year, and those who are injured become even more prone to future falls.

Although exercise, appropriate equipment, adequate staffing and a risk-free environment are important, research done at the Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney in Ryde, Australia found that Vitamin D was a effective measure, although they are not sure why. 

Fall Prevention Resources, Available Online

In an effort to increase awareness about fall prevention hazards the Fall Improvement Taskforce (FIT) at Pathways created colorful flyers that can be printed and used as check-off lists to ensure your environment remains safe and to minimize the risk of falls.

Topics include: “Did you know that clothing can contribute to falls?”; “Medications can increase the risk of falls”’; and “People with vision deficits are twice as likely to fall”.

These helpful resources can be downloaded via our website at www.pathwayshealth.org/resources.