Award of Merit Top Innovation

Fall-unteers: A Volunteer-Based Falls Prevention Strategy in Residential Care

Accidental falls are the most common cause of injury for older adults. With a goal of reducing falls, clinical staff and volunteer coordinators at Holy Family Hospital worked together to create Fall-unteers, a prevention strategy focused on reducing falls in residential care by recruiting and training young volunteers.

Knowing that the best intervention for dementia patients is increased supervision, and drawing from the literature, the program expands the boundaries of the traditional team to include volunteers in the important work of engaging residents and preventing falls.

For overcoming limitations in staffing resources, improving the safety of residents, and working with youth in the community to develop our future leaders of seniors’ care, we present an Award of Merit to Providence Health Care’s Holy Family Hospital.

Project Team: Nadra Ali, Carrie-Ann Longstaffe, Rae Johnson, Sandy Wong, Jasmine Narayan, Fall-unteers

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