The City of Fairfax Fire Department is committed to the overall health and well-being of our community. As part of that commitment we are focusing on injury prevention and risk reduction for older adults living at home and have launched a Community Fall Intervention Team (FIT). 

 What is a Community Fall Intervention Team (FIT)?

Our community fall intervention team specializes in educating the public on the risks of falls in the home, performing at home assessments upon request, and connecting in-need residents with community resources with the goal of reducing the risk of falls in our community.

This team reaches out to individuals who have recently experienced a fall in their home, responds to requests from individuals or family members for an at-home assessment, and conducts education sessions upon request and at local community centers.

Help us in our mission by evaluating the fall risks in your or a loved one's house by using this checklist: Fall Checklist. 

Do you not live locally or feel comfortable performing this inspection on your own? Reach out to our department, by phone (703) 273-6272 and we will arrange a time to assist you with performing this inspection.

How big of an issue is falls for our older adults?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults. In addition, falls resulted in more than 3 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 28,000 deaths.

Our department responds to approximately 400 falls annually. Our goal is to decrease the amount of fall related incidents that we respond to within our community by various prevention strategies, such as performing fall prevention inspections in homes, assisting our older adults with gaining access to community programs, and sending letters home to those we have provided services for related to falls to prevent recurring incidents. 

Other resources include:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDC funded initiative for addressing elderly adults accidents, deaths, and injuries. Link below provides access to brochures and fact sheets, to include information on staying independent, preventing falls, postural hypotension, and chair rise exercises.

https://www.cdc.gov/steadi/patient.html

Inova Medical System Falls Prevention Education

A Matter of Balance

A Matter of Balance is an 8-week structured group intervention that emphasizes practical strategies to reduce fear of falling and increase activity levels. Participants learn to view falls and fear of falling as controllable, set realistic goals to increase activity, change their environment to reduce fall risk factors, and exercise to increase strength and balance. Classes offered in and around the community by request.

Stay on Your Feet!

This program is aimed at reducing the incidence of falls in those aged 60 and older. We deliver these fall prevention seminars to local organizations that serve the over-60 population.  A Matter of Balance and Stay on Your Feet! is run by Linda Watkins, Injury Prevention Coordinator at Inova Trauma Center – Fairfax. For more information on this program, please contact her atlinda.watkins@inova.org or call703-776-3259

https://www.inova.org/inova-trauma-center/programs/falls-prevention

Northern Virginia Regional Program Finder

Regional fall prevention program information and scheduling can be found through the following website. If you do not have internet access, please do not hesitate to reach out to our community health services coordinator at (703) 385-7850.

https://www.novafallsprevention.com/find-a-program