The Dangers of Diabetes & Falls

For older adults living with diabetes, the risk of falling and experiencing serious injury is a big concern.

More than 100 million American adults are currently living with diabetes or prediabetes. This common disease comes with the risk of serious health problems—like heart disease, blindness, and damage to your nerves, feet, kidneys, as well as Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss and related dementias. For older adults living with diabetes, the risk of falling and experiencing serious injury is even higher.

When diabetes has caused nerve damage to the feet and legs, (neuropathy) it can make it hard to feel the ground when walking. Diabetes can also lead to vision loss or impairment. Symptoms include blurred or cloudy vision, depth perception deficits, and difficulty adjusting to changing lighting conditions. Due to these symptoms, falls in older adults are a problem.

When someone falls, they can break bones or hurt their head. These injuries can take a long time to heal, especially for older people with diabetes. There are some things that can help mitigate these risks, like learning better diabetes management strategies to help build healthy long-term behaviors. Participating in a free Diabetes Management Workshop offered by My Healthy Vermont is a great start but consider also adding a Lifeline device into the mix, particularly if you or a loved one is at high risk for falls.

The Lifeline Program at Rutland Regional Medical Center is a personal emergency respond system. Lifeline offers a smart watch as well as the original at home pendant, a small button you wear around your neck. If you fall and cannot get up, you press the button. This sends a signal to a helper who can call for help right away. Some Lifeline devices even have sensors that can tell if you fall without pressing the button. Lifeline gives peace of mind not only for the user but for their loved ones as well. If someone falls, they don’t have to wait for hours for someone to find them. Help comes fast. This can save lives and prevent serious problems.

For people with diabetes, getting help fast after a fall is important because they may have other health issues, like heart problems or slow healing. Quick help means they can get treatment sooner and avoid more injuries. Using Lifeline and following safety tips can make a big difference as well as helping people stay independent and safe in their homes. By incorporating better strategies to managing diabetes learned through free workshops and adding a Lifeline to the mix, these small steps taken today could help prevent a bigger problem tomorrow!

By Rutland Regional Medical Center’s Joanne Lemay, Community Self-Management Coordinator and Rene Greene, Lifeline Program Administrator.