Trying to hurry through the office supplies store, Marsha was loading up her shopping cart with needed items to restock her home office. Because it was the middle of December, the store was teeming with a lot of folks who desired to take advantage of budgeted monies set aside for office items that they wanted to spend before the end of the year. Marsha was thinking about the holiday shopping she wanted to accomplish at the mall located across the street from the office supply store. As she filled the shopping cart with extra envelopes, ball point pens, address labels, and a toner cartridge she remembered she was going to reorder printer ink refill supplies. She had found this to be an effective way to save money the previous year and she felt good about doing her part to reuse and recycle in a small way.
Unfortunately, as Marsha made her way out to her car, she slipped and fell on a patch of ice that she did not see and literally landed almost completely on her right side. As a passerby helped her to her feet, she felt a tremendously sharp pain in her arm and her right leg was hurting also. The person who had stopped to help her remained close by as she attempted to decide the extent of her injuries. She and the kind lady decided that Marsha should contact her husband who worked nearby and he was there within minutes to take her to the nearby hospital. It was quickly confirmed through x-rays that Marsha had broken her wrist and she was given pain medication and released from the hospital to take it easy until she could be seen by a surgeon and surgery could be scheduled for her to repair her wrist.
This story illustrates just how quickly a person can fall without any warning whatsoever. Each year people suffer from falls like this one that was due to ice outside and a number of them happen in the home for a variety of reasons. Sometimes these reasons are preventable with just a little forethought and especially older people need to be alert of how to guard against falling in the home.
• Throw rugs should be done away with due to the fact that they are a danger that can be responsible for causing a fall particularly if they have no rubberized backing on them. It was trendy a few years ago to decorate with these throw rugs, especially in the bathroom, but they are not worth the risk of causing a fall.
• Shoes that do not fit right or are not meant for the nasty weather upon going outside can also cause a fall. Shoes that have a tread on the bottom can help a person gain an advantage by providing traction when walking on the ice or snow.
• Steps that have no hand railings also set the scene for the probability of a needless accident. It is essential particularly for senior citizens who need a strong sense of support when attempting to maneuver a flight of steps.
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