Westchester Medical Center Trauma Experts Advise Bristal Seniors on How to Prevent Falls

In an effort to keep older adults healthy and living longer, experts from Westchester Medical Center (WMC), the flagship of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth), educated seniors during National Fall Prevention Month in September on how to prevent falls, which are the leading cause of injury and death among adults over 65.  Mary McCarthy, Trauma Injury Prevention Coordinator at WMC, recently led a program at the Bristal at Armonk assisted-living community to show older adults how to prevent injury by reducing household risk and improving coordination and balance. One in three adults age 65 and older sustain injuries — some fatal — as the result of a fall. About 25 percent of hospital admissions and 40 percent of nursing-home admissions are due to falls, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-five percent of those who are admitted die of a fall within a year.