Beechwood Residence

Falls Prevention Training

Beechwood Continuing Care, working with a consortium of Western New York nursing homes and support services, developed a Best Practice Training Program to reduce the incidence of falls in nursing homes. This program was carried out in two phases:

  1. A DVD and training guide designed to provide education to all long term care staff with respect to fall assessment, recognizing intrinsic/extrinsic factors that contribute to falls and interventions to prevent/decrease re-occurrence of falls was produced. This program provided interactive training for different types of staff and included family members.
  2. A DVD and Guidebook for an exercise program, based on principles of Tai Chi, for individuals with dementia who typically are unable to participate in traditional exercise was produced. Tai Chi is a holistic exercise that is shown to improve strength, balance, and promote relaxation.

Goal: Reduce falls through staff training and exercise, thereby, improving staff-resident interactions, job satisfaction, staff retention, and overall quality of life for nursing home residents.