Helping Older Parents Articles

Worried about falls in an older person?

You’re right to be concerned, especially if the older person has already experienced a fall. Research suggests that falling once doubles your chance of falling again.

And falls, as everyone knows, can cause life-changing injuries. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that:

• One out of five falls causes a serious injury such as broken bones or a head injury
• Each year at least 300,000 older people are hospitalized for hip fractures
• More than 95% of hip fractures are caused by falling, usually by falling sideways
• Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries

For these reasons and more, preventing falls is a major focus of preventive care for older adults, and is a big part of what we do in geriatrics. (Learn more about how we do this in this article: Why Older People Fall & How to Reduce Fall Risk.)

But if we want to protect older people from the potentially devastating consequences of falls, it’s not enough to help them reduce falls.

We also need to think about how we can reduce the likelihood of injury from a fall.

In this article, I’ll share with you three approaches that can help reduce fall-related injuries.

Then I’ll address two other approaches that are sometimes tried, but are less likely to help.

3 ways to prevent fractures and other injuries related to falls 

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It’s getting to be that time of the year: the season when many of us start looking for a thoughtful gift to give to an older loved one.

I’ll be honest: I’m not much of a shopper and it’s not my style to give physical gifts just for the sake of doing so. 

But I do think it can be wonderful to give something that brightens a person’s day. 

And it’s even better when a gift is practical, useful, or otherwise helps an older person make the best out of life.

One of my favorite resources, when it comes to identifying useful items to help with age-related challenges or caregiving, are the lists put together by DailyCaring.com.

They have a great list of 50 top gift ideas for seniors, and another terrific list of gifts related to Alzheimer’s and dementia.

In this article, I’ll share my list of eight gifts that can help older adults cope with common late-life challenges. 

Four are for older adults in general, and then four are especially useful for those living with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia.

Four great gift ideas for older adults:

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It’s that time of the year: fall, which I think of as flu vaccination time.

I always think getting a flu vaccine is a good idea for most older adults. In these COVID pandemic times, I think it’s even more important.  So I agree with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which is urging that people get vaccinated against influenza early in the fall (before the end of October 2023).

Now, vaccination against seasonal influenza can seem like a bit of a tricky topic. Many older adults are skeptical of the need to get a yearly vaccination against influenza. They aren’t sure it will help. Or they think that the vaccination will actually give them a mild case of the flu. Or they just don’t like needles.

Or maybe they aren’t sure which type of seasonal flu shot to get: the regular one or one of the newer “stronger” versions, designed for older adults?

And now that we have COVID-19 to contend with, vaccination for seasonal influenza might feel even more confusing for people. 

Don’t let yourself be confused. In this article, I will share with you what I know about influenza vaccination and what I’ve learned about influenza in COVID times. I also have updates on the stronger flu vaccines that are now recommended for older adults.

This year, I agree with the CDC that it’s important for people to get their seasonal flu shot, and if you are an older adult, I recommend getting one of the three flu vaccines specifically recommended for older adults. (See below for more on these!)

Note: If you are age 65 or older and it’s been more than 2 months since your last COVID booster, you may be able to get your COVID fall booster shot at the same time. (For more on the fall 2023 COVID booster, see COVID & Aging Adults: 2023 Updates)

In “normal” pre-COVID times, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that every year, influenza affects 9-45 million Americans, causes 140,000-810,100 hospitalizations, and results in 12,000-61,000 deaths. In most years, influenza vaccination does help reduce hospitalizations and deaths (I go into details below).

And now this fall, this will be our fourth winter dealing with COVID-19 as well. (Plus there is now RSV!) As of September 2023, we still have 500-900 people dying of COVID every week, most of whom are people over age 65. We don’t know for sure what will happen this fall, but since COVID seems to spread more when people are indoors and in proximity to the exhalations of others, it’s likely that COVID will get worse again this winter.

So this year, it’s important to do what you can to reduce respiratory illness, to protect yourself, and to protect others. And getting vaccinated against influenza is one of the things we can do.

In fact, I’m about to go get mine. As a healthy woman in her 40s, I’m not that concerned about getting dangerously ill from influenza. Instead, I get my annual flu shot because I want to minimize my chance of getting sick and perhaps exposing my older patients to influenza.

Here’s what I’ll cover in this article:

• The basics of influenza and vaccination against the flu
• What we know about influenza and COVID-19
• What to know about flu shots for older adults & the CDC’s new recommendations specifically for older adults
• What’s new and resources for the 2023-2024 flu season
• Which influenza vaccination is probably best for most older adults
• What to do if your older parent or relative is unwilling or unable to get vaccinated
• Whether it’s more important to get a flu shot or a COVID vaccination (or a booster)

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