The Knox County Health Department (KCHD) and the Knoxville-Knox County Senior Safety Task Force will kick off a series of senior fall prevention seminars on Friday, September 18 with a health fair from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the John T. O’Connor Senior Center, 611 Winona Street. Balance screenings and fall prevention presentations are scheduled for the following week at four Knox County senior centers. All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required by calling 865-541-4500 by September 15. 

Seminar Schedule: 

• Monday, September 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the South Knoxville Senior Center, 6729 Martel Lane 
• Tuesday, September 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Karns Senior Center, 8042 Oak Ridge Highway
• Wednesday, September 23 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Carter Senior Center, 9040 Asheville Highway
• Thursday, September 24 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at the Halls Senior Center, 4405 Crippen Road

At the seminars, speakers will address several fall-related issues, including medication management, home safety and osteoporosis. Free lunch or snacks will be provided to those who register. 

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 out of 3 adults over 65 falls each year, but less than half talk to their health care providers about it. Among older adults, falls are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries. In 2013, 2.5 million nonfatal falls among older adults were treated in emergency departments and more than 734,000 of these patients were hospitalized. That same year, the direct medical costs of falls, adjusted for inflation, were $34 billion. 

Event sponsors include Covenant Senior Health; Walgreens; The University of Tennessee Medical Center; Knoxville-Knox County CAC Office on Aging; AAA; Senior Citizens Home Assistance Service, Inc.; Senior Financial Group; Smoky Mountain Hospice; AARP; Pain Consultants of East Tennessee; and Quality Home Health. KCHD convened the Senior Safety Task Force in 2008 to address concerns about falls in the older population. More information is available by calling Rachel Frazier at KCHD at 865-215-5175.

About Knox County Health Department:

The Knox County Health Department (KCHD) is a governmental agency dedicated to making every person a healthy person. KCHD conducts disease surveillance, prevention and control; emergency preparedness; nutrition and physical activity promotion; tobacco use prevention and control; health equity promotion; adult and child immunizations; and much more. KCHD’s mission is to encourage, promote and assure the development of an active, healthy community through innovative public health practices. For more information, visit www.knoxcounty.org/health.