10/10/2025
Whether you’re navigating a rehab setting or your own home, think of yourself as the trail guide — your choices, awareness, and preparations make the difference between a safe journey and a stumble off the trail.
This year, for fall prevention, we aimed for no more falls at Wooded Glen.
We coordinated with our life enrichment team and started our fall prevention awareness week with an in-service in assisted living. Education was provided on ways to prevent falls and stay safe. A quiz was also provided to determine if you were at risk for a fall.
We continued our journey the next day in the therapy gym. We played games, including a camping word search. We also turned prevention into play with our “Feed the Bear” bean bag toss game. This was a fun way to work on coordination, balance, and safe movement.
Other exercises included taking a ride on a canoe from the NuStep Canoe Co., promoting fine motor development while picking up marshmallows with tongs, and navigating through the therapy campsite, which featured several fall hazards. Residents were asked to vocalize the fall hazards and state ways they could prevent a fall from occurring.
Staff and residents gathered around the campfire to make gooey s’mores with real toasted marshmallows and enjoy other snacks such as hot chocolate, trail mix, and campfire cupcakes.
Staff joined in on the fun while looking around campus for fallen branches and returning them to the therapy gym. Staff stated where they found the branch and how a fall could be prevented in that area. Prizes were given for returned branches.
The therapy team and admissions team coordinated another informational in-service during our senior executive club lunch. Information was provided regarding adaptations at home to reduce a fall risk, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can add to a higher fall risk.
We exceeded our goal of learning more about fall prevention and determined that “Only you can prevent falls”.
